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Pvt schools shut sine die
KATHMANDU, APR 24 -
Private schools across the country will shut down from Sunday because of the protest of All Nepal National Independent Students’ Union Revolutionary (ANNISU-R).
ANNISU-R, the student wing of UCPN (Maoist), has ordered the indefinite closure nationwide demanding withdrawal of the fee hike by the schools. Protesting against the hike, it has padlocked the account sections of schools here for the last six days.
On Friday, members of the union torched over half a dozen school buses across the country, terming their action ‘a trailer of the movie’. “The strike will continue until the schools withdraw the fee hike,” said Himal Sharma, General Secretary of ANNISU-R.
Meanwhile, the government has not taken any initiative so far to resolve the dispute. “ We cannot do anything other than shut down the schools,” said Rajesh Khadka, President of Private and Boarding School Organisation Nepal (PABSON). He accused the government of remaining apathetic. “We are ready for talks but there should be some initiative by the concerned authorities to settle the issue,” said Khadka.
Refuting Khadka’s stand Janardan Nepal, Spokesperson for the Ministry of Education (MoE), claimed that the ministry is investigating the issue of the fee hike.
The Fee Determining and Monitoring Committee (FDMC) of the Ministry of Education and proprietors of private and boarding schools decided on March 23 to hike fees in the valley by 25.22 percent.
ANNISU-R has been pressing for rolling back the decision. It is not ready to accept the fee hike even though it was made with the agreement of FDMC.
“Schools have bribed FDMC members to back the fee hike,” said Sharma. He threatened that those schools defying the closure would face the music.
There are at least 8000 private and boarding schools across the country.
PABSON and National Private and Boarding Schools’ Organisation of Nepal (N-PABSON) asked the agitating group to call off the indefinite closure.
Posted on: 2010-04-25 08:20
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