Teachers continuing their protest

By Arpana Adhikari,Kathmandu, Apr. 17: The government on Tuesday decided to summon the session of the Federal Parliament for April 25, with the aim of passing the long-pending School Education Bill. 

Considering the Kathmandu-centric protest of schoolteachers under the Nepal Teachers’ Federation for a fortnight, the meeting of the Council of Ministers decided that the government would coordinate and facilitate the process to get the bill approved through parliament. 

However, despite the government’s assurance and calls for cooperation, the teachers continued their protest for 15 consecutive days on Wednesday. 

Since April 2, thousands of community school teachers from across the country have been staging street protests in Kathmandu, demanding endorsement of the School Education Bill and implementation of all the past agreements. 

They have been staging the protest by defying the government’s instruction to begin students’ enrollment for the new academic year starting from Tuesday. 

However, Minister for Education Bidya Bhattarai reiterated the government’s commitment to addressing the legitimate demands raised by the Nepal Teachers’ Federation through continued dialogue. Minister Bhattarai said that Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting decided to address the demands of the agitating teachers.

“The government has agreed to summon the parliamentary session and coordinate and facilitate the smooth passage of the School Education Bill, in line with their demands,” she said. 

According to her, the School Education Bill is under consideration at the Education, Health and Information Technology Committee of the Parliament. “The committee has been regularly holding discussions on the Bill.”

“We are in regular discussions with the teachers, and the Ministry is working to form a facilitation committee to create a conducive environment for dialogue and resolve the issue,” said Minister Bhattarai.

She also expressed concerns over the ongoing protest organised during the time of student enrollment, and when the SEE answer sheets have to be evaluated. Again, the board exams of Grade 12 is beginning on April 24. 

Despite the government’s decision to convene the session of Parliament, the Federation remains skeptical. 

They are uncertain whether the session will effectively resolve their demands and bring an end to the protests. Federation Chairman Laxmi Kishore Subedi said they were skeptical about the government’s intention the government. 

“Merely calling a House session will not resolve our issue. If it could, the four previous sessions of the Parliament would have passed the Bill. We are fed up with endless dialogues and meetings. Now, we want to sit down for talks with the officials who can address our concerns,” he said. 

Stating that the movement has reached a decisive phase, Federation chairman Subedi has called on all protestors across the country to reach Kathmandu immediately. 

“We have not reached a decisive point. The state continues to show an indifferent attitude towards our demands. Therefore, we have no option but to push the movement forward with a greater commitment and participation,” he said. 

“They were creating false narratives that we were avoiding talks and dialogues. That was not the case. Now, we want talks at the Prime Ministerial level, with the involvement of the partner political parties,” he said. 

The government has urged all teachers to return to their workplace in the best interest of students and guardians. 

The ministers and ruling party leaders have been claiming that the government is serious and sensitive regarding the concerns of the teachers and is ready to make appropriate decisions accordingly.

Stakeholders are worried that the continued disruption could delay crucial academic activities, including the Secondary Education Examination (SEE) results,  the Grade 12 board examinations, and new student enrolments.

The Federation on Monday reaffirmed its call for school headmasters and teachers to abstain from all official duties. 

This includes exam paper evaluation, publishing results, new admissions, training sessions and involvement in academic events such as seminars and educational tours. 

The ongoing protest also casts uncertainty over the grade 12 board exams, scheduled to start on April 24. The Federation has instructed exam centre chiefs and invigilators to withdraw from examination duties unless their demands are addressed. 

While two rounds of talks have taken place with the Ministry of Education, the Federation accuses the government of lacking commitment to resolving their concerns, leading to the continued intensification of their protest. 

The federation has been warning that it will escalate to stronger protests if the government fails to address their demands through peaceful demonstrations. 

What are the demands of teachers? 

The agitating community school teachers have been demanding an increase in salary of Early Childhood Development facilitators, determination of the order of precedence for teachers, add provision of an inflation allowance to school employees. 

Similarly, the teachers have been demanding assurance of medical allowances for temporary teachers and equal benefits to teachers as civil servants, including gratuity or pension options for teachers’ families after 15 years of service and removal of the mandatory 20-year service requirement for teachers to access these benefits. 

Likewise, the federation has forwarded the demand for grade promotion terms for teachers and civil servants. They have been demanding that the teachers should receive a grade after 11 months and 16 days of permanent services similar to civil servants. 

Currently, teachers must wait for an entire academic session to qualify for a grade. 

After few informal talks, the government has agreed to meet some demands of the Federation, including an increase in the salary of the Early Childhood Development Facilitators, determining the order of precedence for teachers, assurance of inflation allowance for school employees and medical allowance for temporary teachers. 

However, the demand put forth by the agitating teachers regarding the benefits in par with civil servants and grade promotion are left to be addressed. To address the issue, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has prepared a 7-point proposal and is calling agitating teachers for talks.  However, the Nepal Teachers’ Federation has expressed disagreement with the proposal and refused to sit for talks. 

When asked about the agreement, Chairman Subedi refused that there we no such agreement reached between the government and the agitating groups. “We are unaware about the homework done by the ministry.”

“We will only provide our feedback once the government does its proper homework, as we have lost trust in mere words,” he added.