School fee hike dispute deepens
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KATHMANDU, APR 23 - Private and Boarding Schools’ Organisation Nepal (PABSON) has expressed serious concern over the protest launched by All Nepal National Independent Students’ Union Revolutionary (ANNISU-R), the student wing of UCPN (Maoist). It has urged the union to unconditionally withdraw its stir.
The ANNISU-R is keeping padlocked the accounts sections in hundreds of private schools in Kathmandu Valley for the last four days, demanding that the schools withdraw the fee hike decision off the bat.
The union has announced a nationwide closure of schools from April 25 if its call goes unheard.
“With the accounts sections padlocked, we are unable to carry out daily work in schools,” said Rajesh Khadka, president of PABSON. “The student body should have sought a solution to the problem through dialogue instead of resorting to strike.”
PABSON has blamed the government for not taking any initiative to resolve the issue.
“Fees were hiked with consent of the concerned government body and guardians’ representatives,” said Khadka at a press meet in the Capital. “The union has unnecessarily interfered in the issue.” He said that it is the government’s job to ascertain whether the fee hike decision is flawed.
The Fee Determining and Monitoring Committee of the Ministry of Education and proprietors of private and boarding schools had decided on March 23 to hike fees in the Valley by 25.22 percent.
PABSON members maintain the fee hike is justifiable and that they will not withdraw the decision. PABSON General Secretary Bijay Sambahamphe said staff’s salaries have to be increased after the government hiked its employees’ salaries by 34 percent.
Meanwhile, PABSON has threatened to launch protests demanding that the provision of one percent education service tax be scrapped.
Posted on: 2010-04-23 08:34
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