The Nepal Act Bill to amend some issues of education and sports 2063 — under discussion in Parliament — has drawn flak although it seeks to provide justice to temporary teachers. As claimed, the Bill fails to address the issues of temporary teachers affected by the delay of eight years in the publication of the results of the exams they had taken for confirmation. The Teachers’ Service Commission should not make the teachers pay the price for its negligence. Only those temporary teachers working since 2004 will get one more chance to apply for permanent posts once the commission advertises the vacancies.

Going by this scheme, those working before 2004 will have to suffer. It would be unfair to ask these teachers to compete with fresh applicants for a permanent slot. The suggestion for making them permanent on the basis of class observation merits attention. Temporary teachers are hired for a specified period, and, logically, they cannot claim automatic confirmation. So some middle way has to be found; after all, the policy of automatic confirmation has been followed in the past too. If the question persists as to why there is such a huge number of temporary teachers, the answer is that it is much easier for politicians and bureaucrats to hire temporary teachers on the basis of criteria other than professional. The very system of appointing temporary teachers should be scrapped, and even if it is retained, such teachers should be allowed to work only for the stipulated period of time, say six months. Regular exams for teachers should be conducted and only those who come through free competition should have the right to claim permanency.