March and April are crucial months for school students in Nepal. For grade VIII students, it is district level examinations time; for grade X students, the dreaded SLC; and for the plus-two students, the vital window to prepare for their boards. This is the time the students most need their teachers as they seek to clarify difficult concepts ahead of the exams. But what can they do when it’s none others than their own teachers who are hindering their all-important preparations?
The nationwide indefinite education strike announced by various public school teacher bodies beginning Sunday amounts to punishing students for no fault of their own. The striking teachers vow to disrupt district-level examinations and go so far as to ‘not cooperate’ in the upcoming SLC exams. This is in clear breach of students’ right to education and a flagrant violation of teachers’ own commitment not to disrupt studies and to abstain from disruptive strikes three months ago. The latest round of shutdowns imperils the futures of no less than 7.8 million students across Nepal.
Yes, the teachers have the right to protest, like any other citizens, but using students as their sounding board to get the government to address their demands is a cheap shot. They have held the entire education system hostage for their rather selfish demands centered on teachers’ pay and perks. Their allegation that the government has completely disregarded their concerns is also not true. It is on their demand that the government is mulling sixth amendment to Education Act. Last Friday, the Ministry of Education (MoE) also agreed to consider the service period of temporary teachers while considering permanent status for them. Moreover, it agreed to give permanent status to relief-quota teachers as well as to look into the grievances of private school teachers. Given the present political context, this is all the government could do.
Not that all the demands of the striking unions are illegitimate. For instance, they have called for the Teacher’s Service Commission, the teacher recruiting body, to call for an open competition to recruit new teachers. TSC has failed to do in the last 16 years, thus thwarting the ambitions of around a million teaching-license holders of becoming full-fledged teachers. Instead, in 2006 TSC lent permanent status to temporary teachers through an internal competition.
But those currently striking are demanding that their promotion be contingent upon the number of years in service rather than their competence, which makes a mockery of their principled stand on recruitment of new teachers. In the middle of this confusion, the silence of the political parties over the forced shutdown imposed by affiliated teacher unions has been deafening. The more this sorry saga drags on the more the credibility of both government teachers and their patron parties will erode. It is vital that the political parties and the unions work out a formula to stave off further strikes in order to, if nothing else, salvage their own image.
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