Thousands of teachers of public and community schools returned to their classrooms from Sunday after reaching a six-point agreement with the government on Friday, ending days of Kathmandu-centric agitation protesting the Education Bill recently tabled by the government in the federal Parliament. However, relief teachers, teachers in the existing higher secondary schools, temporary/contract teachers and technical teachers, all of whom were hired as per the local level requirement, have expressed their reservation over the deal. Relief quota teachers and others have demanded that they be made permanent through internal competition. In the six-point deal, the government and representatives of the agitating Nepal Teachers' Federation agreed that 75 per cent of the relief quota teachers would be filled through internal competition and the remaining seats through open competition. However, the agitating teachers have dropped their demand that they be put under the federal government, rather than under the local level. The public teachers had been saying that the local levels did not have the institutional capacity to manage them. To address the demand, the government ministers, who took part in the negotiation with the public schoolteachers, said they would have to amend the constitution, which is not possible right now.

As per the deal, the government has agreed to maintain the hierarchy of teachers, facilitate amendments to the Education Bill, make a review of the proposed departmental action, appoint 75 per cent relief quota teachers permanently through internal competition, and transfer teachers only with approval of the school management committee. Likewise, the deal has stated that only guardians will be included in the school management committee, work performance evaluation will be carried out by the headmaster and school management committee only, teachers' service period will be extended from 35 to 40 years, teachers shall get minimum salaries and have access to the Social Security Fund, teachers' promotion shall be made every 10 years, and the government shall maintain records of private schoolteachers.

These are the major achievements of the days-long agitation that had halted the education of millions of children across the country. However, they can be called the major achievements when they are included in the Education Bill and regulations. The major political parties in the government and the opposition bench had extended their solidarity with the teachers' agitation. There are still some disputable provisions in the bill, such as outlawing the practice of polygamy and preventing schoolteachers from doing business or investing their known sources of income in other areas. These provisions are not necessary to be included in the Education Bill. The Criminal Code-2017 has already outlawed polygamy while all citizens are free to make investments in areas of their choice. The government's deal with the teachers is a temporary measure taken to end the agitation. All these deals must be included in the bill at the time of its amendment. Therefore, the onus of amending the bill lies in the hands of the federal lawmakers, who need to fine-tune it to make teaching a dignified profession.

Recall orderlies

It is public knowledge that thousands of policemen are working as domestic help for high-ranking officials, both incumbent and retired. Although they are deployed to provide security to ex-officials who face security threats - many a time who might not even be facing one - they are misused and employed as cooks, drivers and attendants. It is against such complaints that the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee of the Parliament has directed the government to recall all security personnel used as orderlies by officials. It is said that around 3,000 personnel of the Nepal Police and the Armed Police Force are serving as domestic help for high-ranking officials even though engaging the police in non-policing jobs is against the prevailing laws.

It might be recalled that in 2018 the Ministry of Home Affairs had told the Nepal Police and the Armed Police Force to recall all the security personnel provided to former home ministers and former top police officials for purposes other than security. That this has not been complied with shows a total disregard for the rule of law. The government must work as directed by the parliamentary committee and station this huge pool of security personnel in the service of the people.

A version of this article appears in the print on September 25, 2023, of The Himalayan Times