Saturday, February 25 will be a memorable day in the educational history of Nepal for a twist in the traditional schedule of teachers and students. Schools opened on the day, in lieu of Sunday, at the call of agitating teachers.

Probably for the first time, most of the schools—government and private—were open on Saturday and teaching-learning activities went as on a regular day. The move came as an innovation in protests being carried out by teachers’ associations. As part of their third-phase protest, over a dozen of teachers’ unions affiliated to the Nepal Teachers’ Union and the Nepal Educational Republican Forum (NERF) taught students on the weekly holiday while they will close schools on Sunday.

The agitating teachers claimed that classes went as usual in more than two thirds of schools across the country. NERF President Hom Kumar Thapa claimed that 70 percent public and over 60 percent private schools opened on Saturday and student attendance was normal. “We found that students studied enthusiastically, making our move a success,” he said. However, private school owners say only 50 percent schools were open and student turnout was half.

They chose this form of protest after concluding that the government was reluctant to address their ‘genuine’ demands. Putting forth a 47-point charter of demands, the unions have been agitating for the past one month.

They have been demanding permanent status for temporary teachers following a procedure besides seeking that private school teachers be given appointment letters and salaries on a par with their government school counterparts.  “We changed the course of our protest to build pressure on the government as our mild agitation went unheeded,” Thapa added. There are over 6.2 million students enrolled in 32,000 public and 9,000 private schools across the country.

The Ministry of Education has taken a serious exception to the teachers’ move. “There are legal provisions and norms applicable for schools. Being government employees, teachers have no right to flout them,” said Roj Nath Pandey, joint spokesperson for the ministry.

source: The Kathmandu Post,26 Feb 2012