A recent meeting of the council of ministers took a decision to this effect. Maha Shram Sharma, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Education (MoE), confirmed this. This is the first time that the government has announced a golden handshake for teachers. Earlier, such schemes were introduced only for other government employees.[break]
Although officials at the MoE have declined to disclose the details of the scheme saying that the government is yet to publish the decision to this effect in its gazette, reliable sources informed Republica that it is not in sync with a deal signed with various teacher unions a year ago.
According to sources, the government has decided to provide an amount equivalent to a pension amount of 12 months and a maximum of five grades. “Numbers of grades can be determined on the basis of service period,” sources said.
As per the government´s decision, those teachers who are above 50 years and have spent at least 20 years in service as a permanent staff can take voluntary retirement under this scheme. According to government officials, of the total 109,000 permanent teachers, around 40,000 meet the criteria for golden handshake.
Once the decision scheme comes into implementation, thousands of teachers, who have been working temporarily in public schools across the country, can become permanent staff. Under relief quotas alone, the MoE has appointed more than 40,000 temporary teachers across the country. Similarly, in the last several years, the MoE has appointed thousands more temporary teachers under Per Child Fund (PCF) policy. They have been piling pressure on the government to give them permanent status.
Previously, On October 28 in 2009, the government had struck a 14-point deal with the Teachers´ Union of Nepal (TUN), an umbrella organization of all teachers´ associations. As per the deal, the government had agreed to provide a year´s salary and either promotion of one level or five grades to those teachers who accepted golden handshake.
However, as per the recent decision the government will only provide a year´s pension - which is almost half a teacher´s yearly salary. Similarly, the government refused to offer an option of one level promotion. “We are not fully satisfied with the government´s decision,” said Baburam Thapa, General Secretary of Nepal National Teachers Association (NNTA).
“We have already started holding discussions among ourselves on how to respond to the government´s decision,” he said, adding, “We can even launch a fresh round of agitation if needed.”
The government has also decided to introduce a scheme of time-bound promotion, according to which permanent teachers are eligible for promotion after spending certain years in service. Similarly, the government has also decided to provide insurance facilities to teachers.
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