Kathmandu, May 1

Over 50,000 retired support staff of public schools, now in their 60s and 70s, have demanded post-retirement benefits.

The government legislated the country’s first Education Act in 1971, granting pensions to administrative employees of government schools on par with teachers. The government later amended the act in 1979, scrapping the entitlements.

The eighth amendment to the Education Act in June 2016 restored the administrative employees’ right to pension on par with teachers. However, they have yet to receive any support from the government.  The employees have accused the government of failing the implement the act.

Organising a press meet here today one of the leader of the struggle committee Kesh Raj Kafle said, “Although the eighth amendment to the Education Act has guaranteed us post-retirement benefits, the government seems unwilling to implement the law.”

Govinda Bahadur Poudyal, 68, who served as an accountant in a public school for almost 45 years ago, said, “All my colleagues and friends are getting pension and other benefits after retirement, but the government offered me nothing.”

According to Poudyal, the government is deliberately lingering the process to provide them pension. “At first the ministries tried to avoid us, saying they didn’t have the exact number of such staffs, but even after we have submitted all the details, nothing was done,” he said.