KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 21
Thousands of public school teachers continued their Kathmandu centric protest today as well for the second day expressing dissatisfaction with some of the provisions in the School Education Bill registered at the House of Representatives.
Thousands of teachers across the country have come to the capital upon the call from Nepal Teachers' Federation to protest against the Bill. Participants gathered around Maitighar area at 10:00am and marched to Baneshwor. Like yesterday, agitated teachers obstructed road segments for hours affecting traffic in the area for almost the whole day until the teachers finally returned.
The NTF had asked all the teachers to join the protest after rejecting the call for dialogue from the Minister of Education, Science and Technology. Today, the NTF members held meeting with Education Minister Ashok Rai and Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha. Butthe teachers' representative came out of the meeting.
They have said that they will not sit for discussion until the Bill is withdrawn from the HoR.
Teachers have majorly demanded that the provisions allowing the local government to take charge of school management, teachers' appointment, school principal's appointment, teachers' transfer, demotion and dismissal be amended. They have demanded that all these roles be handled by the federal government like issues of civil servants.
Although the government had previously agreed to these demands, the Bill registered at the HoR does not include them. Teachers have accused the government of cheating them in this regard and deliberately bringing these provisions.
Teachers have said that allowing the local governments to appoint teachers will not guarantee competence of teachers and more of them are likely to become political cadres.
The protest has affected studies in over 26,000 public schools and over 5.50 million students across the country.
A version of this article appears in the print on September 22, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
