Pokhara, May 7:

Students affiliated to the All Nepal National Independent Students’ Union-Revolutionary (ANNISU-R) today padlocked the account sections of the Kaski District Education Office (DEO) and government schools here, demanding that secondary level education be made free.

On Friday, ANNISU-R activists had given a three-day ultimatum to the DEO saying they would padlock the account sections of the government schools and the DEO if their demand was not met by Sunday.

The district chairman of ANNISU-R Nawa Raj Bhandari said the padlocking would continue until all their demands were met. The Kaski District Education Officer Babu Kaji Karki said the students’ demands could only be met by the ministry-level decision.

Meanwhile, the DEO Kaski has started monitoring the monthly fees charged by the private schools.

A report from Gaighat said members of Maoist-aligned student union ANNISU-R padlocked the account section of Udaypur DEO and those of the academic institutions situated in the district headquarters today with a 26-point demand list.

Their demands include free education till secondary level, provision of library and improvement in physical infrastructure of schools and colleges in Udaypur.

“We were compelled to padlock the account sections of the academic institutions and the DEO

as our demands have been ignored,” district committee member of ANNISU-R, Bihari Krishna Khatiwada, said.

A report from Dhankuta said students the ANNISU-R cadres today padlocked the account and administration sections of the Dhankuta district education office (DEO) and the Eastern Regional Educational Directorate office.

However, daily work in other sections was not affected. “We continued daily work as usual taking out essential documents,” said accountant Sudarshan Ghimire in the Directorate office.

A statement issued by the Dhanktua ANNISU-R warned to continue protests until its demands were met.