KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has proposed to resume issuing No-Objection Certificates (NOC) to Nepali students wanting to study abroad for higher education.
According to a source at the Ministry, Education Minister Giriraj Mani Pokharel has proposed at the cabinet to start issuing NOCs to those students.
If the proposal is approved, the Abroad Study Permission Section of the Ministry will resume with providing NOCs to students.
The preparation to resume the service comes in the wake of the government’s decision to conditionally reopen international flights starting September 1.
While outbound flights have not yet been reopened, the decision to resume NOC services will pave the way for students wanting to secure their placement and admission in foreign universities, and also allow them to enroll in online classes as soon as possible.
The government had stopped issuing the certificates in mid-March after suspending international flights as part of measures to contain the spread of coronavirus.
The global pandemic had left the fate of studying abroad for thousands of Nepali students uncertain. According to the Ministry’s source, those who wanted to begin the process of admission and take online classes after receiving acceptance letters from foreign universities had not been able to do so as they could not acquire the NOC.
In the last fiscal year 2019 to 2020, 32,000 students had acquired NOCs from the Ministry, down from 63,000 in the previous year 2018 to 2019. Japan, Germany, Netherlands, the US and the UK are the kits popular destinations for Nepali students wanting to pursue a higher education.
