Agitating teachers shut down schools across the country for the second consecutive day today depriving children of their right to education.

Shutting down schools to protest against the government also goes against the government declaration of Schools as Zone of Peace.

Teachers affiliated to Teachers’ Union of Nepal (TUN) and Nepal Education Republic Forum (NERF) today shut down around 33,000 institutional and community schools affecting studies of around eight million children across the country.

Today’s closure was to protest government intervention in the peaceful sit-in of teachers in front of the Ministry of Education (MoE) yesterday. Security personnel had arrested around 200 teachers and lathicharged them injuring scores.

Teachers had yesterday shut down schools demanding that the government fulfil their 47 demands.

Around 5,000 agitating teachers from different districts today staged a rally from Shantibatika to MoE to press the government to fulfil their demands. Some general secretaries and treasurers of some teachers’ organisations staged an hour-long sit-in inside Education Minister Dina Nath Sharma’s room at MoE.

Dinesh Thapa, treasurer, NERF said, “Probably this is the first time teachers have staged a sit-in inside the minister’s room.”

He said they would stage a rally in Shantibatika in Kathmandu Valley and district headquarters in 72 districts outside the Valley for four days more.

Meanwhile, Babu Ram Pokharel, newly elected president, Private and Boarding Schools Organisation Nepal (PABSON), said they had received information about the school closure late yesterday and could not notify their member schools. He said, “Shutting down schools is not the way to get demands fulfiled, therefore we appeal to the government to solve the problem through talks and appeal to teachers to protest in different ways without hampering studies.”

Suprabhat Bhandari, president of the Guardians’ Association of Nepal, said GAN was always against closures as they affected studies. “The teachers’ protest should not affect the children,” he said, urging teachers to change the modality of protest and the government to address the teachers’ demands without delay.

Some of the demands of the agitating teachers included giving permanent status to temporary teachers, giving appointment letters to teachers of institutional schools, equal pay and perks to institutional school teachers on a par with government schools, free education to students and others.

source:The Himalayan Times, 27 feb 2012