ANNISU-R threat to schools

Dipayal, March 29:

The Maoist-affiliated student body ANNISU-R has given a one-month ultimatum to the school management and teachers of those schools whose management have been handed over to local communities to hand back the management to the government.

The Maoists have threatened to force the teachers to resign and padlock the schools if their demands are not met, according to school management committees of various schools.

The teachers recalled the time they were forced to teach students out in the open after the schools were padlocked by the Maoists.

Chairman of the school management committee of the local Saraswoti Secondary School in Chudi Doti, Durga Prasad Fulara, said, “The management of our school was transferred to the local community in June 2004. I have been to the District Education Office at least ten times for the annulment of the transfer.”

After the Maoist threat yesterday, officials of the management committee and teachers had gone to the District Education Office, Doti, to request the withdrawal of the transfer.

“What else can we do except carry the Maoists’ message over to the DEO?” school Principal Chetraj Joshi asked. The Maoists’ effort to return the management of the schools to the government could minimize student enrolment in the schools.