Kathmandu, December 5, 2006

Students protesting against the Education Act Amendment Bill, 2006 gave continuity to their agitation today as well. Nine students were seriously injured when they clashed with the police at Sanothimi Education Campus (SEC) in Bhaktapur.

The police fired 12 rounds of tear gas shells to quell the mob at SEC. Loknath Adhikary, Sarala Khadka, Santosh Khadka, Leeladhar Bhandari, Manila Bastola, Aprina GC, Gajendra Sanjel, Sushila Sanjel and Radha Basnet were seriously injured in the police action.

They are undergoing treatment at the Kathmandu Model Hospital and Bhaktapur Hospital. The police entered the campus and allegedly beat up students who were taking classes. The students also took out protest rallies at Kirtipur and Balku.

Ramesh Thapa, president of the Tribhuvan University Central Struggle Committee, said the governmentshould hire teachers through an open competition.

“Though we sympathise with temporary teachers working for several years, our right to compete for job should not be snatched,” he said, adding: “The government cannot take any decision which affects the future generation. The protest will continue unless the government withdraws the Education Act.”

Seven student unions affiliated to various political parties today expressed solidarity with the TUCSC’s protest programme.

Meanwhile, educationists today demanded that the government make some changes in the Amendment Bill.

44.2 pc mid-west kids lost fathers in conflict: Study

A large number of children lost their fathers during the decade-long conflict, according to the Terre des hommes, an NGO supported by the European Commission.

Findings and outcomes of the evaluation of Terre des hommes’ oneyear programme ‘Psychological support for conflict affected children and their families in 10 districts in the Mid-western Region’ are all set to be released next week.

Fathers of about 44.2 per cent of the children were killed by either of the parties to the conflict - security forces or the Maoists, said the statement. The evaluation is based on Terre des hommes’ project supported by the EC through its Humanitarian Aid Department.

The programme was implemented in 10 districts of the Mid-western development region from November 2005-2006. A large number of children’s (62.8 per cent) parents were directly affected by the conflict.

A total of 56.3 per cent of children (775 children) lost their fathers while 4.6 per cent of children’s fathers died due to various other reasons.

Likewise, 129 children lost their mothers during the conflict, out of whom, mothers of 41 children were killed while “51 mothers left their children behind after remarrying.”