Kathmandu, February 8:

The third national convention of the Limbu Students’ Forum is scheduled for March 4 and 5 in Lalitpur, according to a press release issued here today.

“The convention will assess activities of the previous years, amend forum’s present statute, and draft future policies and plan of action besides electing new executive body for the next two years.”

According to the convener of the publicity sub-committee, Tharkadeep Tigela, some 400 Limbu students representing different college unit committees, district committees and the Valley committee will take part in the convention. He said various sub-committees have been formed to conduct the national convention in a grand manner.

The Limbu students’ body has demanded that the government guarantee political rights to the indigenous nationalities, who have a majority in the country’s population, Madhesis, Dalits and women by providing ethnic and regional autonomy through federal government with the rights of self-determination.

“The state mechanism has been centralised and discriminatory due to one religion, one language and oligarchic ruling policy of the governing system right after the re-unification of the nation some 237 years ago,” said the release adding that the nation should be non-secular. The Limbu students have also demanded that the government adopt tri-lingual policy on the use of languages in the nation and should recognise the rights of the indigenous nationalities.

“We are for a progressive constituent assembly that can have a proportionate representation of all political parties and indigenous nationalities, including other marginalised sections of the society.”

President of the forum, Suvash Palunga, said education system is unscientific, impractical, biased and centralised because of discriminatory policy of the state. “It is clear that the children of indigenous nationalities are deprived of the right to education in their mother tongue, as the government has no programme to bring these communities to the mainstream,” he added.

He said due to privatisation and commercialisation of education some 70 per cent Limbu students, who are under the poverty line, are being deprived of education.

“Therefore, we demand the government establish a Sirijunga University to ensure right to education of all the students of the Limbu community who can receive education in their mother language,” Palunga said adding that positive reservation and scholarship should be provided to the backward communities so as to bring them to the mainstream of national development.

The forum also urged both the warring sides — government and Maoists — to refrain educational institutions from any kind of violence.