Palpa: Local people have complained that the trend of school teacher s working as representatives of various political parties has affected the academic sector in the district.

“Teachers frequently leave their duty to attend programmes organised by various political parties,” said Rudra Prasad Shrestha, a local resident of Masyam VDC in the district.

Parents said even resource persons— teacher s responsible for coordinating academic activities among schools in a certain area—are involved in political activities in the district as well as regional level. They also demanded that the trend be discouraged to ensure of quality of education in schools.

Leaders of major political parties in the district said around 250 teacher s are working as their representatives in the local level. A source said at least one to three teacher s represent political parties at each meeting of the VDC’s political mechanism.

Meanwhile, District Education Officer Prem Nath Poudel admitted that teacher s are involved in politics .

Speaking at a programme organised by the Pokhara-based Regional Education Directorate in Tansen on Sunday, Poudel said he has directed the authorities concerned to recommend action against teacher s who are working as party activists.

Megharaj Sharma, one of the participants, said the quality of education in government school will improve once teacher s are prohibited from actively involved in political activities. Regional Education Director Bishnu Bahadur Dware said government employees are barred from participating in political activities.

source:the kathmandu post,22 april 2013