Nepal Teacher Union (NTU) and Nepal Educational Republican Forum (NERF) -- which had warned of shutting down all public and private schools if their demands were not addressed by MoE before March 15 -- put on hold their strike following the 34-point deal.[break]
However, will the 34-point deal have any positive impact on the quality of Nepal´s education apart from deferring an imminent crisis? Education experts are doubtful.
The victory of temporary teachers -- who were agitating for an internal exam instead of an open competition to qualify as permanent ones -- is the crux of the 34-point deal. The first three points of the deal focus on the very issue of making temporary teachers permanent.
“It is a mistake,” says Vishnu Karki, an education expert. “The government should have allowed fresh candidates to enter teaching profession instead of retaining the same old teachers. By agreeing to make temporary teachers permanent through an internal exam, the government has prevented fresh candidates from becoming teachers."
According to Karki, School Sector Reform Program (SSRP), an ambitious plan of MoE to overhaul the education system, has also envisioned replacement of old teachers with fresh candidates. "The deal is against the spirit of SSRP," says Karki. ´This will have an adverse impact on Nepal´s education system for years."
As per the deal, the Teacher Service Commission (TSC) will conduct an internal exam for all temporary teachers appointed before April 24, 2006. All the temporary teachers who score at least 40 per cent marks in the internal exams would be made permanent. Previously, MoE had proposed 50 per cent as pass mark. Following a series of talks over the last two weeks, MoE had to revise its own proposal.
According to Baburam Thapa, general secretary of Nepal National Teachers´ Organization (NNTO), one of the major constituents of NTU, some 10,000 temporary teachers will benefit from the deal. Those temporary teachers who do not want to become permanent by appearing in an internal exam can opt for a golden handshake under which teachers will be entitled to varying amounts of gratuity as per the number of years they have served. In addition, they will also be entitled to medical treatment.
In every way, temporary teachers appear as the major winners. Currently, some 25,000 posts of teachers are lying vacant across the country, according to TSC. "After the deal, all those temporary teachers who score minimum pass marks can secure vacant posts," says Uday Raj Soti, chairman of the TSC. "Only the remaining vacant posts will be allocated for fresh candidates."
So, did the government really make a mistake under pressure from teacher unions? Dr Rojnath Pandey, assistant spokesperson for MoE, tries to justify: “The deal has done justice to temporary teachers because the government had not allowed them to become permanent through open competition since 2052 BS. If TSC had been conducting open competitions every year like the Public Service Commission (PSC), most of the temporary teachers would have become permanent long ago. It is unfair to ask them now to compete with fresh candidates to secure permanent posts."
However, Karki says, "It is true that temporary teachers were treated unfairly. But, they could have been offered more attractive packages. It is wrong to risk the future of education on the pretext of doing justice to temporary teachers."
Similarly, Kedar Bhakta Mathema, another education expert, is doubtful that the deal will have any positive impact on education. "The deal can be considered as an achievement only if it positively reflects in the exam results," says Mathema. "However, given the past experiences, I am not hopeful."
About five years ago, over 12,000 temporary teachers had become permanent after passing out an internal exam following a similar deal. However, SLC pass percentages did not improve in the following years. Worse, the gap between the performances of public and private schools in the SLC exams remains as disappointing as ever.
"What if the teachers do not honestly perform their duties even after this deal?" asks Mathema. "The government has magnanimously tried to address all of their problems this time around. Now, the teachers should make the 34-point deal meaningful by delivering good results."
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