POKHARA, AUGUST 7

Part-time teachers of Prithvi Narayan Campus of Pokhara vandalised the campus chief’s office today, accusing him and the concerned university of being apathetic towards their demands for a long time.

The teachers and their organisation, Part-time Teachers’ Association, have demanded that the campus and the university concerned appoint the teachers working on period-basis for as long as the past 14 years at the campus on contract-basis.

According to an agitating teacher, they were compelled to resort to vandalism after the campus administration ignored their demands. Teachers have accused the campus chief of avoiding them.

“We were planning to submit a memorandum to the campus chief, but as the campus chief avoided us, that led to vandalism,” said Part-time Teachers’ Association Chairperson Sunil Gautam, warning of a stern agitation if their demands were not fulfilled at the earliest.

“It’s the part-time teachers who take most of the classes and they are working on period-basis all these years.

They are severely affected after the lockdown,” he added.

While the windows of the campus chief’s room were smashed from today’s vandalism, a few chairs in the room were also damaged.

Campus Chief Prof Saroj Koirala said he was constantly in touch with the centre to resolve the problem and asked all to be hopeful that the problem would be settled by Monday.

There are a total of 220 part-time teachers at the campus now.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on August 8, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.