KATHMANDU, NOV 08 - Public school teachers stormed at the District Education Office (DEO) in Kathmandu on Friday to protest the on-going teachers’ licensing procedure.
However, no untoward incident was reported, according to Bala Ram KC, District Education Officer. "The rush caused by the presence of large number of teachers in DEO naturally created commotion for sometime," he said. However, eyewitness said there was tension at the DEO for nearly an hour.
Meanwhile, reports from Rajbiraj said a group of students who have passed 10+2 hurled stones at the DEO in Saptari inflicting minor damage.
Around 200 angry protestors went on a violent spree when the DEO denied them the application forms for sitting in a qualifying test for teaching job.
The government has made educational pedagogy’ a compulsory subject for the 10+2 students wishing to become teachers.
The students, who came for the application at the DEO, had, however, not taken the subject that carries 100 marks.
"I was confused that I had to pass ‘education pedagogy’, which I knew only today," said Ram Prasad Kheg, an applicant who was denied the form.
He was earlier issued the temporary teaching license with a number 00021 but was denied a permanent one. To give a boost to the academic standards, the government plans to place only qualified and trained teachers in schools. Teacher Service Council (TSC) has made both training and teaching license mandatory for everyone pursuing teaching profession, except the disabled and the women.
But the teacher unions have blamed the process as "vague" and often maligning teachers who have been teaching for long as temporary teachers. They have also blamed the process of certification as "faulty" and trying to lay off private teachers.
School Executive Forum of Nepal (SEFON), an organisation of headmasters today opposed teachers’ licensing as irrational. "All temporary teachers who have served for 20 to 30 years must be given teaching license automatically," Dhan Lal Maharjan, president of SEFON said. He was addressing the gathering of school headmasters and assistant headmasters at an interaction held here today.
Similarly, Mani Ram Aryal, assistant headmaster of Siddhi Ganesh Secondary School in Paknajol, expressed displeasure over the licensing procedure.Posted on: 2003-11-07 11:10

Post Your Comment

Please note that all the fields marked * are mandatory.

* Full Name

* Address

* Email Address

* Comment
[Some of the HTML tags you can use : <b>, <i>, <a>]

* Captcha

Get another CAPTCHA code