The recent resignation of Chairman of the Education Service Commission Bishwanath Sapkota has not only affected the day-to-day running of the commission, it is also bound to test the patience of 230,000 permanent teachers awaiting their teaching licenses.

The chairman's resignation has also delayed the results of examinees sitting for the commission's teaching examinations from the last six years. Months after the seventh amendment to the Education Bill ruled individuals without a teaching license would be disregarded as incompetent, the commission has been unable to grant licenses to working teachers. Sapkota resigned from his post following the CIAA's investigation into a decision regarding the Bakraha river embankments when Sapkota was Secretary for Water Resouces. Former minister Khum Bahadur Khadka and former Director General of the Irrigation Department Amodananda Mishra are in jail while the CIAA investigates further. Sapkota sent in his resignation from the US where he is undergoing medical treatment. According to the Education Bill, individuals who have taught for five years are entitled to receive a temporary teaching license which becomes permanent if they pass a commission exam.