• Assures Maoist students of security

• Appeals for withdrawal of blockade, bandh

Kathmandu, March 13:

Minister for Education and Sports Radha Krishna Mainali today said the government would provide opportunity to all students carrying admit card and irrespective of their political affiliation to appear in the forthcoming SLC examinations.

“The students will not be arrested or terrorised during the examinations slated from March 27,” said the minister at an interaction organised at the Reporters’ Club.

Last year, some of the students affiliated to the student wing of Maoists were arrested from the examination centres.

Appealing to all the political parties and the Maoists not to disrupt the SLC examination, Minister Mainali urged the Maoists to withdraw the blockade and bandh called by them as it would hamper the future of the students and the nation.

He appealed to the Maoists that using SLC examination as a political means would only backfire as previously when the Maoists obstructed the teachers’ licensing process, large number of teachers became unemployed.

This year 332,134 students — 260,000 regular examinees and 72,134 exempted students — are appearing in the SLC examination. Mainali informed that around 40,000 government staffers and 14,910 security personnel would be mobilised for the examination.

There will be 16,609 superintendents in 994 exam centres across the country.

“Around 90 per cent of the preparation for the examination has been completed and the government is working on providing security to the examinees where they could appear in the examination without any psychological problem or terror of any

kind,” minister Mainali further stated. Mohan Gyanwali, president of the Nepal Teachers’ Association (NTA), said even though the teachers were in agitation demanding the government meet their 16-point demand, their protest would not affect the SLC

examination.

Suprabhat Bhandary, president of the Guardians’ Association of Nepal, said the 13 years of hard work of students should not go wasted due to the vested interest of certain groups.

Lakshya Bahadur KC, general secretary at the Private and Boarding Schools Organisation Nepal, said the government and rebels should ensure that schools are declared as zone of peace.

Plea to OHCHR

KATHMANDU: The Secretariat of the National Coalition for Children as Zones of Peace on Monday appealed to the National Human Rights Commission, the OHCHR-Nepal and the civil society to bar the security personnel’s presence in the SLC examination centres.

“The presence of armed security personnel in and around the examination hall will have negative psychological impact on the students and hence they should not be allowed to enter the examination hall,” stated a press release issued by the secretariat.

It also appealed to the government to strictly implement the commitment to ensure children and schools as zones of peace. Education Minister Radha Krishna Mainali had earlier said at a programme that security personnel outside the examination centres would ensure that the examination were conducted in peaceful environment. — HNS