Preparations have been started to provide mandatory No Objection Letter (NOC) online to students who want to study abroad.
There is a lot of hassle when distributing NOCs by making the students physically present, unnecessary expenses are incurred when they come from far away and there is also crowding in the concerned office. Currently, students can apply online for NOC, but to get the letter, they have to attend the foreign study permit branch in Bhaktapur.
The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology created ‘Semi Online’ to reduce the queues for taking NOC, but it has not been able to reduce the crowd. Among the services provided by the Ministry of Education, the longest queue is at the NOC distribution office. Some students, not knowing the procedure, have approached that branch to fill the application.
Now, daily up to 1000 people are taking NOC from the Ministry of Education. Every student taking NOC takes one other friend with them, so the branch gets crowded.
To make services such as NOC hassle-free, the ministry has co-secretary Dr. Preparations have started by forming a committee under the coordination of Kamal Prasad Pokharel. The committee is consulting officials from the National Examination Board, various universities, Medical Education Commission, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Immigration Department and others.
Vasudev Vasti, Head of the Foreign Study Permit Branch, said preparations are underway to implement the full online service. He informed that it will take some time to provide NOC to the students online after applying online.
According to the Ministry, it will take some time to make NOC fully online as it will take time to connect everything from the bank to the immigration department to the software. According to the preparation of the Ministry, after going to the complete online system, the students will apply online and get the letter online.
More than 60 percent of the NOC takers want to pursue graduate studies. The application given by the student has to be verified with the relevant board or university or educational institution.
If the records are not checked, it cannot be ascertained whether the educational certificate submitted by the student is genuine or fake. “In order to fully implement the online system, our software must be integrated with the National Examination Board’s software to verify students’ certificates,” said Deputy Secretary Vasti, “The records of 11 universities and six health science institutes across the country must also be integrated with our software. It will take some time.”
In order to make NOC completely online, the ‘eligibility letter’ given by the Medical Education Commission, CTEVT, Engineering Council, Veterinary Council, pre-approval with Civil Aviation, foreign exchange coordination with related banks etc. should also be coordinated.
Currently, although we know how many students have received ‘No Objection Letter’ in a year, how many of them go abroad, how many take what amount of money abroad, how many return the money, how many return after completing their studies, and how many students are studying which subject in which country. Not with any body. According to the Ministry of Education, all these data will be easily available once the complete online system is implemented in NOC.
