KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 17
After a series of protests and extensive amendments, the School Education Bill, 2023 was registered in the Parliament on September 13. However, disgruntled teachers across the country condemned the Bill and announced nationwide protest if the Bill was passed without amendments.
The School Education Bill, 2023 has been brought to replace the old Education Act 1971. The protest erupted soon after the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology registered the Bill in the Parliament.
Particularly, teachers' organisations such Nepal Teachers Federation and National Campaign for Education have vehemently objected to the Bill.
The Nepal Teachers' Federation has already warned of Kathmandu-centred demonstrations by shutting down schools. The Nepal Teachers' Federation has declared a protest in Kathmandu starting on September 20, seeking enhanced job security, and guarantee of rights and recognition for educators. The Federation has issued a warning that they will shut down all the schools across the country from September 20.
Approximately 7 million students attending 34,000 schools are expected to be affected by this demonstration.
The Federation has issued a warning that they will continue their protest until a teacher-friendly Education Act is passed.
The teachers stated that the proposed law failed to address the concerns of various types of teachers and school staff, including permanent, temporary, contract, relief, former high school, child class, special class, teaching-learning subsidy, technical edge, among others.
President of the Nepal Teachers' Federation Kamala Tuladhar raised concerns about the proposed draft, particularly the appointment of local-level ward heads as school management committee chairpersons, which she deemed detrimental to the schools. Saying that the government was encroaching on trade union rights, she warned that the quality of education would suffer if teachers were not protected.
"The government has ignored the agreement reached with the Federation. We will be forced to start fresh protest if the Bill is passed without making amendments."
The Federation's general secretary Laxmi Kishore Subedi expressed frustration after the government introduced the draft without consulting them, prompting their protest.
"The provisions within the recently published 'Education Act, 2023' has infringed upon trade union rights, occupational safety and self-governance as granted by the constitution," Subedi said.
The NTF has also drawn the attention of the government to issues such as giving permanent status to temporary teachers, creating additional posts for school staff, hiring class teachers of children from outside the school structure, new proposals to calculate temporary period and pension period, teachers' promotion, appointment of principal, and teachers' transfer and performance evaluation.
Earlier, an all-round protest flared up against the Bill passed by the Council of Ministers.
Later, the government submitted it to the Legislative Committee of the Council of Ministers. After discussion in the Committee, it was submitted to the Cabinet with amendments. Finally, the Cabinet meeting passed and registered the Bill in the House.
After the demonstration, the Bill to amend and unify the School Education Act was extensively amended.
However, teachers' organisations have started protesting robustly. Relief teachers said the law had not been enacted according to the agreement made by the government in the past.
The committee has demanded that all 40,000 teachers be allowed to compete internally and golden handshakes be given only to those who could not pass the exam.
The proposed Bill has granted various privileges to the local levels. The Bill has given complete authority to the local levels to operate and establish schools. The upgrades, downgradation, relocation and school mergers power will also be exercised by the bottom level, according to the Bill.
Subjects like Mathematics, Science and Computer Science should be taught in English, whereas Social Studies and other liberal subjects should be instructed in Nepali, according to the Bill.
Similarly, the Bill allows the local governments to operate the Early Childhood Development Centre. It has also proposed a minimum of bachelors-level qualification for basic and masters for secondary teachers. Furthermore, it prohibits the teachers from indulging in political activities and organising demonstrations.
Meanwhile, experts have said that the realisation of the Bill is crucial for all the stakeholders.
Talking to THT, educationalist Bidhyanath Koirala said, "Lawmakers, legal experts, constitutionalists and teachers need to consult and discuss to resolve the issue."
"Teachers don't want to get entangled with the procedures of the local levels and they expect more facilities. Therefore, all the stakeholders should rethink about incorporating relevant amendments from the teachers to avoid unpleasant predicament in the country," he said, adding, "The Bill includes some provisions which shouldn't be there, for example, polygamy and affiliations with the political parties. At the outset, political parties should ban their sister's organisations, only then it should be implemented."
A version of this article appears in the print on September 18, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
