Itahari, April 29:

Agitating teachers have closed all private schools here for an indefinite period from today.

The teachers are staging an agitation with a 13-point charter of demands and studies in 250 private schools have come to a halt, the Sunsari chapter of the Private school Teachers’ Union said.

The union has put forth various demands, including providing permanent appointment to teachers working in private schools and reasonable salary and other facilities.

Yesterday, representatives of the eight political parties, student organisations, teachers’ organisations, journalists and members of civil society held a discussion on the teachers’ demands at Bishnu Memorial School in Dharan.

Though an agreement was reached to solve the problem through talks, the teachers’ union went ahead with its programme of protest as announced earlier.

The closure has affected some 35,000 students, vice chairperson of the N-PABSON Jagadish Oli said.

The teachers’ agitation has also affected the admission campaign, Dilli Bhattarai of the Sunsari district education office (DEO) said.

Meanwhile, PABSON’s Sunsari chapter chairperson Shankar Thapa and vice- chairperson Rajendra Gurung, in a joint statement, said the teachers, instead of coming to an amicable solution of their problems, forcibly closed the schools.