KATHMANDU: Nepal Community Higher Secondary Teachers’ Union (NCHISTU) has demanded that the government allocate five quotas of permanent teachers in each community higher secondary schools (HSS) across the country.

Talking to this daily, Balaram Koirala, vice president of NCHISTU, said the government had tried to run higher secondary education without making a reasonable investment in it. “The government has been providing funds sporadically. It has to be provided on a regular basis,” he added.

The union held its second national conference in Kathmandu today. Stating that the government had not implemented the recommendations of the teams it

commissioned to study

the problems of the HS schools, the office-bearer demanded that the slots be made equivalent to those of TU lecturers. “We’ll launch various protest programmes if the government does not address our demands,” he threatened.

Addressing the inaugural session of the conference, Dr Upendra Koirala, vice-chairman of Higher Secondary Education Board, urged the teachers to press some 1,771 community HS schools to apply for permanent affiliation, adding that only 400 plus of them had initiated the process.

He further said the newly introduced School Sector Reform Plan (SSRP) was against quality education since teachers who had passed School Leaving Certificate examination and had received 10-month teacher training were being awarded Intermediate degrees upon passing the special examination conducted by HSEB. “HSEB is governed by a separate act whereas SSRP is only a programme. How can a programme infringe upon the provision of an act?” he wondered.

Addressing the programme, lawmaker Agni Sapkota, in-charge of the education department of Unified CPN-Maoist, said the country’s education was in a state of disorder. “An educational revolution is essential in order to safeguard the recent political achievements,” he remarked, vowing to raise the teachers’ concerns in the parliament.