Teachers protest government decision

Bhaktapur, February 5

Yagya Raj Dahal has the principal of Yuva Pratibha Secondary School in Khokana for 18 years. He began his career as a teacher in 1988, when he was hired as a permanent primary level teacher. After four years of employment, he was promoted to the post of secondary school principal temporarily because of shortage of staff in the upper levels. He has been serving as principal since then.

Recently, Education Minister Dhaniram Paudel decided to return all public teachers filling temporary positions back to their permanent posts. The Department of Education has directed District Education Offices to send a circular to all school teachers regarding the same.

“I have worked for almost two decades as this school’s principal. After all these years of service, the government suddenly decides that we are not qualified to hold our positions. This decision is an insult to us,” Dahal said.

Like Dahal, Krishna Hari Balla, a teacher at Shree Krishna Higher Secondary School in Kharipati, Bhaktapur has been employed in his current position for the last two decades. He said the government’s decision has demoralised all teachers. “It is as thought all the years I have given and all the experience I have gained amount to nothing to them. I feel like a lifetime of my work has gone unappreciated, even wasted,” he said.

According to the Department of Education, over 100 permanent primary level teachers had been asked to temporarily take positions at secondary level schools in 35 districts. Among them, 27 teachers work in Bhaktapur, 76 teachers in Kathmandu, and 40 teachers in Lalitpur. The teachers have been revolting against the ministry’s decision.