nepal education & book fair - THT special Participant list — Education sector 2. Alliance Franciase de Kathmandu 4. Alliance International 5. Air Hostess Training Institute 6. Allied Career Education/ Nepal 7. American Edu Consultancy 9. Aptech Computer Edu/ Nepal 10. BrainHeart Education Foundation & Research Centre 11. Brindavan College 12. The British Council 13. Budanilkantha Int’l Academy 14. Cambridge Institute 15. Career Consult Nepal 16. Career Search Pvt Ltd/ Nepal 17. Chartered Academics/ Nepal 18. Criss Cross Pvt Ltd 19. Dayananda Sagar Edu Institute 20. Dolphin Edu Consultancy Centre 21. Doon International School, Dehradun 22. East-West College 23. Ec-Mod Study Abroad 24. Ecortc Education Consultancy 25. Edinburgh Telford College 26. Educational Consultants India Ltd 27. Eminent Education Institute 28. Everest Engineering College 29. Global Edu Counselling Centre 30. GM Inst of Technology 31. Gomathy School, India 32. Himalayan Infosys Pvt Ltd 33. HKBK College of Engineering 34. Icon College of Technology 35. Indira Gandhi National Open 36. Informatics Computer School 37. International School of Tourism 38. Int’l English Language House 39. INTI Intl’ Group of College 40. Intl’ School of Business & Media 41. Kaktiya Public School 42. Kantipur City College 43. Kathmandu Bernhardt College 44. Kathmandu Don Bosco HS School 45. Kathmandu Engineering 47. Landmark Education 48. Laxmi Memorial Educational Trust 49. Lord Buddha Education Foundation/Nepal 50. Mgmt Development Institute, S’pore 51. Manipal Academy of Higher 52. The Memorex Group 53. Mercantile Solutions P. Ltd 54. MIT Group of Institutions 55. Nepal College of Hospitality & Tourism Mgmt 56. Nepal Engineering College 57. Nepal International Education Consultancy 58. Nobel Institute Nepal 59. Netco Technology Pvt Ltd 60. Orbit International Education/ Nepal 61. Padmashree Group of 62. Pathfinder Inc. Nepal 63. Presidency College 64. Professional Edu Consultancy 65. Reliance Training Consultancy 66. Raffles Education Network 67. Rajkarnicar & Associates 68. Rastriya Banijya Bank 69. Sann Research Institute 70. Silver Mountain School of 71. Speed International 73. SRN Adarsh College 74. Stamford Student Group 75. Thames Business School/Nepal 76. Universal College 77. Universal Language & 78. University of Central Lancashire Preston 79. VS Niketan Education 80. Vishwakarma Institute, Pune 81. Xavier Intl’ College/ Nepal 82. Zee Network Education Group Publishing sector posts slow progress Himalayan News Service A relatively small market in Nepal and a low level of literacy have been constraints in the advancement of the publication industry. Despite having a long history of publication, its growth has been happening at a snail’s pace. A rather small number of English-speaking readership has also been a hindrance, not making it viable to reprint many English books from abroad. The restoration of democracy in 1990 gave a new hope for the prosperity of this industry, as Article 13 of the Constitution of Nepal spelled out ‘press and publication rights’. The number of publication houses registered in the early 90’s was remarkable. “When there is democracy and freedom of speech, it encourages writers to write more, which naturally boosts the publishing industry,” said Deepak Aryal, managing director at Jagadamba Press. After 1990, the publication industry witnessed radical changes. “Compared to the Panchayat period, the publication industry is multiplying very fast now,” he added. The Copyrights Act amended in 2004 was an affirmative step by the government to promote the industry, but its implementation has not yet been quite effective, Aryal said. Despite such odds, publication continues to be a very profitable business. The lack of a regulating body to fix prices of books has led to unfair practices and competition. It is up to a publisher to fix the price and to earn higher profits, often by compromising on quality, said Khagendra Bhattarai, proprietor of Pairavi Prakashan. The publication industry in Nepal is more or less confined to literature and textbooks. Books translated in Nepali holds a small chunk of the pie. Besides, other kinds of publications are almost negligible, he said. Bhattarai was also of the opinion that promulgation of the Copyright Act is not sufficient. Its implementation and monitoring should be done in a manner to render competition hale and hearty. Lately, the prolonged crisis and political instability, have also affected the publication industry. The marketing of books outside the valley has become a very difficult task with the increasing insurgency, said Bhattarai. Though we can buy copyrights from Indian publishers and publish books here, the low demand of books does not make it feasible for publishers, said Bhattarai. Moreover, paper produced in Nepal only meets about 35 per cent of the total demand. Papers being imported increases the cost of production. Besides these challenges, an unfavou-rable scale of economy makes it almost unrealistic to print books, he added. Suresh Shrestha, coordinator of publishing and marketing at Ratna Pustak Bhandar said that books published in Nepal only make up around 20 per cent of the total market. Indian publishers are the major stakeholders in the Nepali book market, he added. Previously there was a trend that people used to go to India for publishing books, but now most of the books written by Nepali writers are being published in Nepal itself. We gained technology and experience with time and are now more matured about publishing books, he added. “Our reading habit is pres-ently quite low which needs to be increased. Though we are embracing modern tec-hnologies for publication, we remain confined to publishing textbooks and literature only,” Shrestha added.