The Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has given letters of selection for the scholarship programme to over 2,328 students to get admitted in grade 11 in various colleges in the metropolis. The selected students will not have to pay tuition, library, lab or any other education-related fees.

However, officials said they are being told that some of the private colleges are demanding money from students.

Unique usernames and passwords were created for each applicant student for the application process.

The students were approved for admission to the college of their choice. The KMC sent letters from the same system and the students can check their status by signing in by their usernames.

“As students visited their colleges with letters given by the KMC on Thursday, we got complaints that some of the colleges asked for money from the students for admission,” said Samit Pokharel, an adviser to the KMC mayor’s secretariat. “We are yet to confirm it.”

He, however, declined to provide the names of the colleges as, according to him, they are still verifying the facts.

Officials said those colleges that go against the KMC’s decision will be penalised as per the law.

In the first week of July, Mayor Balendra Shah had announced the provision of scholarships to 10 percent of the students (mainly for those from poor economic backgrounds) admitted in each college based on Act Relating to Compulsory And Free Education, 2075 (2018).

The KMC has asked the students to get admission to their chosen colleges by August 24 in the first phase.

Last week, the KMC had published the final list of 4,550 students out of the 6,017 who had registered for exams for scholarships at private schools.

According to KMC officials, the highest number of students, 1,456, had applied in the science faculty, followed by 747 in management, 73 in technical subjects such as computer and engineering, 43 in law, 5 in education and 4 in humanities.

“They all need to get admitted by August 20, and in the remaining seats we will be giving approval for other students,” said Pokharel.

The students who took the exam were ranked through the Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) system. Their marks ranged from 40 to 96 on a scale of 100.

The KMC had given two days—August 6 and 7—for students to apply for re-evaluation if they were not happy with their score.

The selected students were allowed to choose the stream they wanted to study. As per the system, top scorers got more options of college while those scoring lower marks got a lesser number of colleges to choose from, said Sita Ram Koirala, chief of the education department. The students are categorised on the basis of their merit, quota allocated for various groups and their place of residence.

According to officials, most of the students’ choice is St.Xaviers’ College Maitighar, followed by Trinity College Dillibazar, Golden Gate College, Global College and Uniglobe College.

Students stand a chance to enrol with full scholarship in 169 colleges in Kathmandu. Officials believe that over 2,300 students will benefit from the initiative, directly.

“In the second phase, we will be giving a chance to those whose names were published but did not get into the merit list,” said Pokharel.

The metropolis will start the first phase of enrollment on Monday and the second between August 20 and August 24.

Of the total students who applied for the scholarships, 4,144 chose the science stream, followed by 1,484 who chose management, 245 went for technical subjects and the remaining for studying humanities.

According to officials at the education department of KMC, of the total scholarships, 40 percent is allocated for those who come from community schools, five percent has been given to students from private schools, nine percent has been given to the residents of the metropolitan city and one percent to the students from the Sisdol landfill site in Nuwakot.

The remaining 45 percent of the scholarships were again taken as 100 percent. Of them, 33 percent has been set aside for girl students, 15 percent for those from indigenous communities, 12 percent for those from the Madheshi community and 17 percent for the Khas Arya students from community schools.

Meanwhile, the municipal department has allocated nine percent seats for Dalit students, four percent for those from the Tharu community, two percent for Muslims and students from other groups such as conflict victims and children of martyrs and disappeared families.

The KMC has also fixed quotas for students who come from remote districts such as Achham, Kailali, Jajarkot, Jumla, Dolpa, Bajhang, Bajura, Mugu and Humla.

Despite Nepal Guardians’ Federation and educationists showing concern whether the selection process would be fair and inclusive, KMC officials have asserted that the initiative is very fair and inclusive.