Kathmandu, October 27

Agitating temporary teachers today decided to postpone their protest programmes for two days.

The striking teachers staged a relay hunger strike for the ninth day today at Maitighar putting forth a three-point demand.

The agitating teachers also held talks with officials of Ministry of Education in the presence of representatives from the Confederation of Nepalese Teachers.

Nirendra Kunwar, president, Temporary Teachers Struggle Central Committee, said the meeting with government officials was positive. “Though the meeting ended inconclusively, we appreciate the government’s decision to call us for talks and discuss our demands. Therefore, we decided to postpone the protest for two days to create a positive environment for talks,” said Kunwar. He also warned that they would continue their protests if the government failed to address their demands.

The ministry will continue talks with the agitating teachers at 8:00 am tomorrow.

A team of five temporary teachers  Tek Nath Gautam, Bhoj Raj Neupane, Sudeep Joshi and Dinesh Thapa  led by Kunwar had represented the agitating teachers for talks. Similarly, four representatives from CNT were also present with MoE officials.

Temporary teachers have been demanding amendment to the Education Act, saying the eighth amendment failed to address their issues.

They have also been demanding that the government give all temporary teachers the opportunity to fight for permanent status. Similarly, they have demanded that the government add their total years of service as temporary teachers for retirement benefits if they get permanent status.

The temporary teachers later met Education Minister Dhaniram Paudel, who assured them that their demands would be addressed after holding talks on the issues they have raised .