It would be premature to say that life in Kailali district, which has been brought to a standstill over the past month, is getting back to normal. Particularly after the killing of nine police personnel in a violent clash with Tharuhat protestors two weeks ago, the situation in the district has been tense. Nepal Army has been mobilized. Parts of the district have been under dawn-to-dusk curfew. But over the last few days the curfew has been gradually relaxed. The protestors—both those protesting for a Tharuhat province and those who want an undivided Far-West—have agreed to let schools open again. Following the decision, on Sunday, schools in Dhangadi, the district headquarters, and most parts of the district threw their doors open. Most of the students Republica talked to in Dhangadi appeared eager to get back to school, but also apprehensive that they would now have to sit down for their final exams without completing their academic courses.But with no end in sight to the constitutional logjam, the parents of the 200,000 school-going students of Kailali districts fear that there is likely to be more strife, and more unplanned off days for their children. Yet the reopening of schools has also offered hope to the beleaguered people of Kailali, the hope that it could be a harbinger of better days ahead; that they would, at long last, be able to get back to their normal lives. We hope so. We also hope that the precedent set by the organizers of protest movements in Kailali will be replicated in other restive parts of the Tarai. Parties from across the political spectrum—including the ones protesting in the Tarai belt right now—have repeatedly committed to making educational establishments a 'zone of peace' so that their operations aren't affected by any kind of political activism. But these promises have been broken as and when the parties have found it convenient to do so.
Really, no one should be able to forcibly close down vital health and education establishments under any pretext. The right to study is now recognized as a fundamental right of every child, all over the world. The same with people's right to timely healthcare services. Forcible strikes keep children away from their schools and hinder people's access to timely treatment. This is why, we believe, bandas are unjustifiable, however worthy the underlying cause. Given the scope of their abuse in Nepal, they should ideally be outlawed. Coming back to reopening of schools in Kailali, we would again like to urge all of those who have come out in protests in Tarai to allow educational institutions (and the transportation services that cater to them) to function unhindered. The underage school-going children should have absolutely nothing to do with the political issues that have been raised on the streets of the Tarai belt. Such a decision would also add to the moral clout of the protests. Following the 10 years of civil war, Nepali people have told their political leaders that they have no appetite whatsoever for violence—and certainly not the violence imposed to keep their wards away from school.
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