Kathmandu, December 14, 2006

Bowing to mounting pressure from students, the government today agreed to meet demands put forth by the former.

The government agreed to bring in changes in the newly amended Education Act and provide job opportunity through free competition in accordance with rule 133 of the House of Representatives Regulation.

The amendment to the Act was endorsed by the House on November 23. According to the agreement today, all temporary teachers will be given a last chance to compete for appointments in community schools.

There will be no age limit for all the temporary teachers. The new amendment had barred fresh graduates from competing for teachers’ job. The government and student unions also agreed to make the teachers’ licence examination more practical.

The students had been demanding that the licence examination, which had been suspended, should be held at the earliest and an advertisement for the same be published by the Teachers’ Service Commission.

Agreement was also reached on preparing the educational regulation only after an agreement with stakeholders concerned after addressing all educational problems.

1,500 Humla kids live in City shelter homes

The government has identified at least 1,500 children from Humla living in shelter homes in Kathmandu. The children were brought to Kathmandu by agents over the period of many years.

The agents had assured the children’s parents of educational opportunities in the capital city, according to data collected by the District Child Welfare Committee (DCWC), Kathmandu chapter.

Forty-one children have been reintegrated with their families by a satellite office under the coordination of Dhan Bahadur Lama, the president of The Himalayan Innovative (THI) and a Humla-based organisation Umbrella Nepal, said Gyan Bahadur Lama, the secretary of the DCWC, Kathmandu.

Lama said they are coordinating with local authorities in tracking down the children’s parents. According to DCWC, Kathmandu, 184 children from Humla are being sent homes. Most of the children were once rescued from other shelters and are currently living with Umbrella Nepal and Voluntary Service Nepal.

Dharma Raj Shahi and Pu Shahi of Dandafaya village -8, Humla, have come to Kathmandu to take back their sons. They had sent their sons to the capital in March.

According to Pur Shahi, they sent their sons along with Dal Phadera, a local from Humla, with a hope that they would be admitted in schools opened for poor people in Kathmandu. “The schools in Humla are not regular.

We thought we were fortunate to have sent our children to Kathmandu,” Pur said.