Bhaktapur: Nine student unions affiliated to various political parties including Nepali Congress (NC), CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist today padlocked the office of vice chairperson and member secretary of Higher Secondary Education Board (HSEB) and Council For Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) indefinitely in their second phase protest programme.

The protesters prohibited the entry of the vice chairperson and member secretary into their offices.

According to All Nepal National Independent Students Union-Revolutionary cadre Ratna Dhakal, the student unions will also prohibit all CTEVT staff from entering office from tomorrow.

Even after launching various protest programmes, the senior officials at HSEB and CTEVT paid no heed to our demand, Dhakal said, adding that ‘padlocking was an obligation, not their choice.

According to him, the student unions will padlock the regional offices of HSEB and CTEVT from tomorrow and burn the effigy of the education minister on August 2. They have also threatened to launch an indefinite educational strike if their demands are not met.

The students have been demanding that Plus Two colleges remove their hoarding boards, change their foreign names and regulate fee structure. They have also demanded that CTEVT implement fee structure for nursing and general medicine studies determined by the high level committee and cancel entrance exams for scholarship for various subjects of Intermediate and Diploma Level degrees held on July 19, among others.

Their other demands include scrapping of decision to provide facilities to former VIPs, end to decisions through ordinance and the Prime Minister’s resignation to pave the way for political consensus.

source: The Himalayan Times,31 July 2012