Kathmandu, February 1
The All Nepal National Free Student Union affiliated to the Madhav Kumar Nepal-led CPN (Unified Socialist) today staged a protest outside Janak Education Material Centre saying that the government body was involved in graft and had worked to benefit the private sector.
Dozens of student leaders who forcedly entered the first gate of the country's largest printing press office clashed with police after they tried to enter the main office building. Later, police forced them to stage a sit-in protest on the roadside in Sanothimi.
Students have accused the JEMC and its Managing Director Anil Kumar Jha of supporting the government in allowing the private sector to print books from grades I to V. The government had decided to allow the private sector to print books after the JEMC failed to print books and transport them to rural areas on time.
Every year, news of book shortages in rural areas become headline after the new academic year begins.
However, student leaders said the government's new rule was brought to support the private sector while the government body itself was capable of the same.
"It's clear that the ministry's decision was brought not only to support the private sector in exchange for hefty commission, but also to completely ensure the government body failed," said Sudesh Parajuli, chairman of the student's organisation.
He said when an organisation like JEMC was failing, the government should have provided financial or other supports for its uplift rather than providing aid to it.
Earlier, the same student union had burned an effigy of Education Minister Sishir Khanal for failing to address the issue. The student union has urged the government to revoke the decision.
Meanwhile, JEMC has said they were completely capable of printing books as required by the government.
Spokesperson of JEMC Chitra Kumar Acharya said they were now capable of printing 200,000 books in just an hour. "Had there been lack of books in rural areas, it would have been the problem of distribution.
As far as our capacity to print books is concerned, we are capable," Acharya said.
A version of this article appears in the print on February 2, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
