Importance of quality education needs no explanation. Education plays an important role in the intellectual growth of individuals as well as all-round development of the nation. This is a reason why the countries across the world make huge investment in education. A nation can make strides in economic sector with its educated and hard-working citizens, even if it lacks natural resources and capital. Higher education helps people become good citizens, creative and independent. Knowledge, skill and exposure that the students gain at university enable them to get better-paid jobs, thereby leading a life of dignity. Despite knowing the fact that education is the key to the progress and well-being of people, many nations fail to impart quality education to their young population owing to resource constraints and absence of visionary planning.

A good investment is required to create a sound academic environment in colleges and universities. Adequate infrastructure, competent human resources, adoption of advanced technology, stability and non-interference in the academic sector are necessary for the delivery of quality education in a country like Nepal. Of several components, effective academic calendar is important for the better performance of students. A calendar is a timetable of all events that include deadlines for sessions of each semester, examination dates, vacation, education tours and internship, among others, within an academic year. Academic calendar helps students manage and plan their study and free time. Universities and colleges implement their calendars so that they effectively handle and complete pedagogic courses in time. The academic calendar is not only about conducting academic activities but it also impacts the entire business processes of higher educational institutions such as class enrollment, tuition fees and refunds and progress reports.

Failure to introduce and abide by the academic calendar hit both the career of students and prestige of a university. The country’s oldest university, Tribhuvan University (TU), is grappling with the challenge of implementing its academic calendar effectively. The TU is blamed for failing to implement its calendar, affecting the career of hundreds of thousands of students. According to a news report of this daily published on Sunday, the students have complained that they have been unable to complete their semester in time owing to the TU’s inability to follow the calendar. One student said that he attended the examination of first semester only after two years of enrollment. The TU has fallen behind the schedule in publishing results of the examinations, forcing the students to waste their academic year. This puts undue mental, social and economic pressure on them.

As the largest university of the country, the TU has to deal with far more campuses and students across the country but it lacks necessary human resources and infrastructure in proportion to the number of students. However, educationists argue that TU’s problems have arisen from its unwillingness to decentralise its powers and responsibilities. With the country embracing the federal set-up, the TU needs to delegate its rights to the provincial level universities and colleges. Another option is to create more universities by breaking the TU’s big campuses. The newly built varsities should be autonomous to take all academic decisions, thereby relieving the TU of a burden of handling a large number of students. This will help TU-affiliated colleges deliver better outcomes.