Schools shut, relief teachers held

KATHMANDU: All public schools remained closed across the country today for the second consecutive day due to the protest of the Relief Teachers’ Central Struggle Committee.Khem Raj Adhikari, valley

in-charge of the struggle committee, said around 450 relief teachers were arrested today when they were preparing to stage a protest before the Ministry of Education. “We planned to gherao the ministry to press the government to fulfil our demands but the police arrested our friends in the mean time,” Adhikari added.

He told The Himalayan Times that the police used force to prevent them from organising the protest. The teachers, however, protested for two hours before the ministry.

“If the government continues to suppress our protest, we will respond accordingly,” warned Adhikari. The teachers are planning to stage a sit-in in front of the ministry tomorrow as well.

The teachers appointed in relief quota have given a three-day ultimatum to the government to address their demands.

They have demanded that all the relief quota teachers be appointed permanently by organising an internal competition without age being a bar and provide them with facilities at par with other teachers.

They have been agitating for the last six months, demanding better pays and perks together with promotion.

There are at least 38,000relief teachers, according to the ministry