Kathmandu, Nov. 13 -- The federal government has put a brake on the initiative of the local level to hire teachers on their own. Issuing a circular on Tuesday, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology asked all the local governments to stop the recruitment of teachers for now.

The local governments have been appointing teachers in public schools as mandated by the constitution. Schedule 8 of the Constitution of Nepal gives local governments explicit authority to manage school education, which means they can hire and fire teachers, develop curricula and hold examinations up to the 12th grade on their own. The federal government has, however, been taking several steps to curtail their authority.

"The education units at the local ...