The agitating teachers are all set to sign a new agreement with the Ministry of Education (MoE) in the presence of chief whips and education department chiefs of major political parties on Thursday.

The ministry has already agreed to most of the 47-point demands put forth by the striking teacher unions. However, the protesters are yet to withdraw their agitation as they have been demanding that a deal be signed in the presence of chief whips of three main parties and Madheshi Morcha, Speaker and vice-president of National Planning Commission.

“Many agreements have been made with the MoE earlier, which were never implemented,” said Upendra Yadav, general secretary of Nepal Educational Republican Forum (NERF). “Therefore, we want representatives of all major political parties present while signing the new deal to ensure that it is owned up by the parties as well.”

Following a series of talks between the two sides from March 7, the MoE has agreed amend the Education Act-1972 to fulfill the demands of teachers. Several rounds of meetings held for a week between the MoE team led by Education Minister Dina Nath Sharma and representatives of teacher unions reached agreements on various issues, including permanent status to temporary teachers and creating posts for staff in schools.

According to Janardan Nepal, MoE spokesperson, the demands have been categorised in three groups—first that can be implemented by the ministry itself, second by the Cabinet and the remaining after the Act is amended by the parliament. “The ministry will start implementing process from Thursday and look for those agreements awaiting Cabinet nod.”

He also informed that a high level committee comprising MoE officials, teacher unions and education journalists will be formed to check the implementation level of the agreement.

Acting on the demand of the protesting teachers, the ministry has agreed to announce internal competition among temporary teachers to make them permanent and offer a golden handshake to those who want to stay out of the competition. The temporary teachers who opt for voluntary retirement will be given an incentive package based on the number of service years under three categories. More than 20,000 temporary teachers from primary to secondary level will be benefited from the agreement.

The ministry has also agreed to count the service years of such teachers and provide one mark for each year of service in the internal competition. The agreement also envisions to reinstate or compensate those teachers who were compelled to quit their jobs during the decade-long conflict. The two sides have also agreed to double the salary of teachers under Early Childhood Development quota to Rs 5,000.

source: The Kathmandu Post, 14 March 2012