Protecting child rights

We often hear news of harassment of students by the teachers but nothing is being done to help the victims. There are many children who repeatedly get punished by the school

authorities. I have myself experienced it. I joined a boarding school in Koteshwor earlier this year. Soon after, I noticed that many students either ran away or bunked classes on a regular basis, not because they were disinterested in their studies, but because they were given harsh punishment. Many of them were being locked up in a room for hours or often

beaten up. Then one day the principal accused me of smoking and locked me up. Though I hadn’t smoked, she locked me for three consecutive days in a small room. I quit the school thereafter. How can children study in an environment where they are treated as prisoners? The State and other concerned agencies should help protect the students and work towards putting an end to all kinds of injustice that violate child rights.

Pramesh Rai, via e-mail

Can’t trust

It is sad that many of our once “trusted” leaders like former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba have been embroiled in corruption charges. It seems that these so-called democratic leaders were not interested to work for the good of the people and the nation. All these years they misused the state-power for their own benefit. How can they be trusted? What do they

understand by democracy when they have no interest in the nation’s prosperity?

The lack of honesty in leaders means the country is headed towards a bleak future. Hope a leader will emerge to lead the nation from the abysmal state towards real freedom and development.

Sanjay Poudyel, Golfutar

It’s Gurung

Padam Bahadur Gurung is the president of GAESO and not Padam Bahadur Karki as posted in THT online news on July 28.

Dipak Bahadur Gurung, via e-mail

Include Dalits

It is unfortunate that the Dalits and other backward communities have very low representation in various official and private organisations. According to the news “Very few Dalits working in NGOs, agencies: Study” published in THT on July 31, a study conducted by Informal Sector Service Centre and Save the Children US revealed that people from the Dalit

community make up only mere 3.8 per cent of the total recruitment in Nepal’s INGOs and NGOs. The absence of Dalit representation in this sector also means the failure of the State to bring the weak communities into the mainstream. It is futile to blame the agencies for this since they cannot hire incompetent people. The Dalits should be given educational opportunities so that they become capable to join the bilateral and multilateral agencies.

Savitri Dangol, Batisputali

Unrealistic

The speakers at one interaction programme recently were impractical in saying that women’s inclusion alone would help achieve the millennium development goals. The issue at this point is not so much the inclusion of men, women or Dalits, as it is about good governance and corruption control.

Pratibha Panday, Kalimati