Kathmandu Post

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Whither peace zone ?: Valley schools shut; 1 m students stay home

KATHMANDU, JUN 13 -
Openly flouting the government’s decision to establish schools as a peace zone, an umbrella organisation of teachers’ unions shut down all state-owned and private schools in the Valley on Monday. At the call of the UCPN (Maoist)-affiliated Nepal Educational Republican Forum (NERF), thousands of students from the pre-primary to higher secondary level were forced to stay home.

The move is yet another blow to the government’s effort to keep educational institutions away from politics, strikes and other possible obstructions. It is the second time schools in Kathmandu valley remained closed since the May 26 government declaration of the education sector as a zone of peace. On May 27, just a day after the government decision, the Temporary Teachers’ Struggle Committee closed the schools demanding their permanent status through an internal competition.

According to the three district education offices in the Valley and the Private and Boarding Schools’ Organisation, Nepal (Pabson) more than one million students were affected by the closure. More than 2000 schools—710 public and 1300 private—remained shut. Students say the teachers’ protest should be targeted at the government and other concerned authorities but they should not be victimised. “We have nothing to do with their demands and neither can we solve their problems. Therefore, the act of violating the students’ right to education is regretful,” said Susmita Koirala, a ninth grader at LRI School in Kalanki.

The Forum has put forth a nine-point charter of demands and upped pressure on the government and private school owners to implement past agreements. NERF has demanded that the government implement agreements reached with the teachers in the past, declare the teachers and employees who were killed during the decade-long conflict martyrs and give permanent status to temporary teachers. They have also sought formation of a high-level panel to execute a new education policy and provision of quotas for higher secondary school teachers and their training. The NERF is demanding pay and perks of private school teachers on par with their government school counterparts.

“The shut down call came without consulting us. We can sort out problems, if there are any, through talks,” said Pabson General Secretary Bijay Sambahamphe, terming the strike as immature and regretful. He added internal examination in some schools was halted with the forced closure. However, the NERF pointed out the government and private school operators’ reluctance in addressing their demands as the reason behind the strike. “We took the decision as the last resort as both the government and schools’ associations have long been turning a deaf ear to our call to implement past agreements,” said NERF Chairman Guna Raj Lohani.

Posted on: 2011-06-14 08:26

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