Pradeep Shrestha has been waiting for his second-year results for nearly a year now. The 23-year-old Bachelor of Arts student at a Kathmandu-based Tribhuvan University-affiliated college says the wait has been frustrating with still no certainty on the result date.

“The first thing I do in the morning is check for updates of results on the university website,” said Shrestha. “I have spent the last few months in limbo. I can neither join a Master’s programme here nor make plans to go abroad for further studies.”

Shrestha has already completed his Bachelor’s but is yet to receive his degree because he has a backlog in one subject from his second year. He reappeared for the backlog paper in April last year for which results are yet to be published.

The country’s oldest and largest university’s negligence in publishing the result even after a year of examination has drawn widespread criticism from students. Students are outraged and have taken to social media to show their dissatisfaction and frustration with the university’s irresponsibility.

Pushpa Raj Joshi, examination controller at the university, said the delay in exam results is caused by the lack of manpower at the university.

“Most of our old employees have retired and it’s been nearly five years since the public service commission recruited new employees,” said Joshi.

Although the university on Thursday published the result of BBS second year, after almost 13 months since the exams, students appearing for BA and B.Ed exams are still waiting.

Last Friday, Joshi told the Post that all the second-year results would be published within a week but the results of two more programmes are yet to be out.

“We published the results of BBS second year today. Remaining results will be out within a few days,” Joshi told the post over a telephone call. “First-year students will however have to wait until after June to get their results.”

The university’s negligence has made students anxious.

“First Covid-19 and now the delay in results by TU citing staff shortages. At this pace, I will not finish my four-year programme even in six years,” said Saru Thapa, a 22-year-old resident of Bhaktapur who just finished her BBS third-year.

This is not the first time students have suffered due to the university’s irregularity. During the pandemic, Tribhuvan University students waited for over a year just to appear for the final exams of various disciplines and programmes. The delay was caused by the university’s insistence on holding in-person exams during the pandemic.

While other universities including Kathmandu University, Pokhara University and Agriculture and Forestry University conducted the exams virtually, Tribhuvan University did not, citing large numbers of students.

According to Deepak Sharma, spokesperson for the education ministry, his office has been receiving complaints from students regarding the delay in result publication and the ministry has been notifying the concerned university officials through the University Grants Commission.

“We have repeatedly reminded the university officials of the problems that the students are facing due to delay in publishing the results through UGC,” said Sharma. “During several meetings with the university officials, our minister has also urged them to publish the remaining results as soon as possible.”

In January, Minister for Education, Science and Technology Devendra Poudel visited the Office of the Controller of Examinations under Tribhuvan University and directed the office to publish the results of the past exams without further delay.

The university soon published the results of some examinations including BBS third-year, but students appearing in other exams keep on waiting.

Tribhuvan University, which has 1,124 affiliates and 61 constituent colleges, is the largest university in the country with over 400,000 regular students. The university runs 125 programmes at the bachelor’s and master’s levels.