Students against blockade
Kathmandu witnessed a rare sight on Friday. Up to 500,000 students from various schools and colleges linked their hands to form a human chain along the 27-km Ring Road. There were out on the street to protest the unjust economic blockade imposed by India and let the world know that their right to education was being violated. Although we don’t approve of the use of children in any kind of protest, peaceful or otherwise, it is hard to see what else the schools and colleges that have been shut for most of the past four months could do. Since none of the parties directly or indirectly responsible for the blockade was ready to listen to the urgent pleas of school operators, the only sensible thing left to do was to let the students speak for themselves. This is exactly what those masses on Ring Road—who otherwise should have been studying in their schools if not for the blockade—did on Friday. It was a poignant sight. Small children waving Nepali flags with one hand and on the other holding aloft placards with slogans like ‘Declare schools zone of peace’ and ‘Let us study’.
Their ire was mainly directed against India. Soon after India started curtailing the supply of petrol and diesel to Nepal two months ago student attendance in schools across Nepal dropped precipitously. Without fuel, school buses could not ferry students to schools. Nor could parents take their wards in private vehicles. Prolonged power cuts made things worse as schools were unable to operate their back-up generators. The situation in the Tarai belt is even worse. There, students have been barred from going to school for the last four months owing to the protests of Madheshi Morcha. With nothing better to do, these students have joined the oft-violent protests organized by Morcha. Children in border areas have been involved in confiscating imported petro products from India and destroying them. Other children have become foot-soldiers for Madheshi parties. The absence of students from schools for so long and their use in political activities prompted UNICEF Nepal to warn that it could badly affect their emotional and intellectual growth.
All three sides to the current standoff—Nepal government, India and Madheshi parties—must take this issue seriously. Children cannot be made victims of the problems adults create for themselves. Nor can these adults shy away from their responsibility to protect every child’s right to education. Making schools zone of peace is an old idea in Nepal, but it unfortunately has not found many takers among our political parties. This is sad. With a little thought things could be a lot better. India must rethink its blockade in light of its devastating impact on the most vulnerable sections of the society. The children who came out to protest against Indian blockade on Friday, in all probability, won’t have high opinion of India when they grow up. The government for its part must make an arrangement to avail fuel on a priority basis to schools and colleges. It also does not behoove democratic Madheshi parties, whatever their agenda, to be so cavalier about the inalienable rights of children.