Sahana for president

The tug of war among political parties for the ceremonial post of President is disrespectful of people’s mandate. Recent developments have brought the CPN-Maoist and the CPN-UML closer. However, there is no sense in proposing Madhav Kumar Nepal as the new president. Instead, Sahana Pradhan is a much better candidate. She has a political career second to none in the CPN-UML.

A diehard communist who supported Puspha Lal Shrestha, one of the founding members of the Communist Party of Nepal, throughout his life, Sahana has helped keep his legacy alive. She belongs to an indigenous group and has a solid academic background. Then why are Nepal and J N Khanal hesitant to support her? Does belonging to an indigenous group and being a woman make her ineligible? Not only the CPN-UML but the whole country should be proud to have an indigenous woman as the first President of the Republic of Nepal.

Sanu Banepali, Bholakhatole, Banepa

Irresponsible

The prevailing political uncertainty has hit the education sector hard.

Following the CA polls, the country expected the number of strikes and rallies to decline. But even today, schools and colleges remain closed for nearly half of the month. Moreover, owing to the delay in publication of course books, the next group of SLC students are facing many problems. There are only around nine months to go for SLC but textbooks are still unavailable. As the quality of education at home declines, students are going abroad for higher studies. Someday, even high school students might have to go abroad. Who will be

responsible for such a state of affairs?

sSantosh Bayalkoti,

via e-mail

It’s a sham

The SLC result this year was more aimed at increasing the pass percentage rather than reflecting the educational standard of those sitting for the exams. The wrong policy of the

Office of the Controller of Examination (OCE) has created an environment whereby even the mediocre students have obtained distinction. The OCE appears only to be interested in getting the SLC passed students admitted into colleges. It is surprising that the pass percentage is the highest in the district of Saptari, not the brightest of Nepali districts by any standard.

Ken Subedi, Inaruwa

Protests

Haven’t we had enough of bandhs and chakkajams? Damaging vehicles, destroying public property and burning tyres help no one, and these are not the right ways of protesting in a civilised society. There are many other serious problems like robberies and kidnappings that need government’s immediate attention. But for the society to handle these bigger issues the smaller ones have to be dealt with first.

Navin Pradhan, Chhauni, Kathmandu

Right thing

PM GP Koirala has rightly resigned from his post. As he emphasised in his parting speech in the CA, there is no alternative to cooperation among the political parties. Let us hope that Koirala’s resignation will herald real change that Nepalis have been waiting for.

Ramesh Shrestha,

Bhaktapur