December 21: Minister for Education, Science and Technology Devendra Paudel has said it is high time for soul-searching on whether the skills and knowledge obtained from higher education have been limited to certificate in the context of Nepal.    

Minister Paudel made such remark while addressing the 47th Convocation Day of the University on Monday, December 20.    

On the occasion, he expressed concerns regarding brain-drain and said that the country's skilled human resources are compelled to go abroad seeking employment opportunities at a time when Nepal needs to bring the knowledge and experiences from across the world scenario into the country for the nation's development.    

"I wonder whether it is the educational programmes and contents of our universities that are not matching the requirements of our life or is it that we only have confined the skills and knowledge we learned to certificate alone and failed to translate them into practice. It is time to ponder over this matter," the state-owned national news agency RSS quoted the education minister as saying.    

He suggested the graduates who have got their degrees to use the skills they have learned to bring about improvement in the society, by synchronizing the knowledge learned with the world scenario and local needs.    

Education Minister Paudel reportedly said that Nepal could not move forward on the path of development as per the expectation because the available means and resources at its disposal could not be utilized in a judicious manner in spite of its cultural, geographical and natural diversities and richness.    

The Education Minister and TU Pro-Chancellor urged the TU, the country's biggest and oldest university, to address the issues of poverty and unemployment by providing a world-class education. He suggested the university to make its research institutions more effective.    

According to RSS, Education Minister Paudel underscored the need of linking education to skills and skills to production and employment to stop large amount of money going abroad in the name of higher and quality education.