Seeking opinion

These days lawmakers are busy collecting the opinion from the public for making a good constitution. Reports have been coming that the people are much more enthusiastic about the

opinions and they have been firing numerous questions at the members of the CA teams deployed for opinion collection. I agree with the editorial “Plain talk” (THT, March 11). Many of our CA members are not literate. It is because political parties were not serious at all during the time of nominating them for CA election. Bhutan has a mandatory rule that says candidates for MP should at least be a graduate. Nepal should also do something like this as it would help uplift the quality of education in the country.

About opinion collection, it may be better if the government makes questions available through

the official website of the Constitution Assembly in a user-friendly mode. All the available question files are in PDF format and it’s difficult to answer them online.

Provision should me made that the user can answer them without much trouble. PDF formats are not editable, and this is creating confusion for the citizens in spite of their willingness to answer them. In addition, the government should publicize through the media about the availability of the questionnaires in the official website of the Constituent Assembly (www.can.gov.np).

Dr. Sital Kaji Shrestha, via e-mail

Campus polls

Campuses all over the country are are holding elections to student unions. Student organisations belong to various political parties. This constitutes unhealthy interference in the higher centres of learning which are established to impart education. All the political parties should reach an urgent consensus to dissolve all their student wings and to focus on imparting

beneficial education.

D B Sayami, via e-mail

Very funny

It was really hilarious yet ironic to hear our PM Prachanda talk about working towards declaring a holdiay on March 8, which also happens to be International Women’s Day. I don’t see why we need to declare women’s day as a public holiday which is from now on supposedly also inclusive of males (in Nepal). I fail to see the point in this promised declaration. The country has a poor economy with little sign of any early improvement. Women actually might end up having to do more household chores. Instead, the government should provide more scholarships to poor women, or even jobs?

Leeza Sharma, Virginia, USA

For tax

Apropos of the letter “Taxes” by Dwaipayan Regmi (THT, March 11), private schools are opened not only to impart education but to earn profit too. If the government does not collect tax, then how will our country run. That means Regmi wants us to depend on foreign aid. The government should collect the education service tax (EST) and the extra tax should be collected from the schools and not from the parents, because these schools only earn money and do not give proper facilities to us students. We students will be proud that a part of our money will be used for the education of the poor children. There should be no differentiation

between rich and poor schools.

Raj, Kathmandu