SIRAHA, DECEMBER 7
Students of Sundar Janata Secondary School, Ward No 5, Aurahi Rural Municipality, Siraha, padlocked the school today, putting forward a number of demands, including regular classes.
Besides the demand of regular classes, students have put forth demands for managing textbooks, teachers, drinking water, sanitation and improvement of the academic environment at their school. "As there are no subject teachers for Nepali, Health Education and Social Studies, classes have been disrupted for the past eight months, which is why we had to resort to the lockout," students said, adding they had complained about the situation with the school administration frequently, but to no avail.
Tenth grader Prince Yadav warned that the school would remain padlocked until their demands were met. "What is the use of opening the school if there are no classes?" he asked, adding they were worried as their board exams were approaching without regular classes. Principal Indradev Yadav blamed the disruption of classes of certain subjects at the local level. "As the newly-elected local representatives removed contract-based teachers without any alternative arrangement, the same has resulted in disruption of classes, as we are unable to manage teachers on our own," Yadav said.
Aurahi Rural Municipality Chief Administrative Officer Ramesh Narayan Sharma admitted there were problems with operating the school and said preparations were on to resolve the problem.
A version of this article appears in the print on December 8, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
