The two different alliances of agitating teachers´ unions have agreed to withdraw their indefinite educational strike following a four-point agreement with the Ministry of Education (MoE) late Sunday night.

Nepal Teachers´ Union (NTU) and Nepal Educational Republican Forum (NERF) that enforced closure of all public and private schools across the country on Sunday decided to withdraw their strike after inking the deal after almost seven-hours meeting with MoE officials.

As per the agreement, MoE will have to address the 42-point demand put forth by NTU and NERF within the next four days. The chief whips of all the four major political parties will also have to be formally informed about the decision by March 15.

“We have put on hold our protest programs till March 15 as MoE has asked for some time to do the necessary homework,” Baburam Adhikari, chairman of Nepal National Teachers´ Organization (NNTO), one of the major constituents of NTU, told Republica. “If MoE fails to address our demands in the given time, we will be compelled to call yet another educational strike.”

As per the four point deal, MoE will also have to bear the expenses for medical treatment of teachers who were injured, some of them critically, in their latest phase of strike. According to Adhikari, over 160 teachers were injured in clashes with the police.

The 42-point demand put forth by NTU and NERF include making all temporary teachers permanent through an open competition, reinstating all teachers who lost their jobs during the Maoist insurgency, increasing the salary scale of teachers working at Early Childhood Development Centers (ECDCs) and making private schools pay their teachers on par with public school teachers.


Empty class on Sunday.

Over 7.5 millions students were forced to stay home on Sunday due to the strike. More than 40,000 schools -- about 32,000 public and 8,000 private -- were forcibly closed down across the country. The grade eight district level examinations - supposed to begin on Sunday -- was also indefinitely postponed in all 75 districts.

Although NTU and NERF postponed the district level exams of grade eight to Tuesday, it seems unlikely that the exams will start from Tuesday. “Today´s deal was not a final one. We may have to launch another strike after March 15,” said Ramesh Rupakheti, a central committee member of All Nepal Teachers´ Organization (ANTO), one of the major constituents of NERF. “Therefore, the exams are unlikely to be held within this week.”

Meanwhile, local guardians in Kavre district protested the closure of schools and the postponement of the grade eight exams by chanting slogans against teachers on Sunday, writes Republica correspondent Madhusudan Guragain. Grade eight students who went to their respective exam centers to appear in the exams on Sunday had to return home.

source: republica, 12 March 2012