KATHMANDU, Nov 29: The legal system of Nepal prohibits the political use and mobilization of children and schools by parties, but in the House of Representatives and Provincial Assembly member elections 2079, the parties brazenly flouted the law and used children to a large extent for election purposes. On the other hand, all the educational activities of the school have come to a standstill due to the establishment of the polling station for more than a week against the law. Not only that, some candidates were found using school children in their election campaigns. Teaching and learning activities in Bhagwati Secondary School in Sunsari-4 have been suspended since November 19. Since the counting of votes is going on in the school, teaching has been stopped for a week. In this school, which is the constituency of Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, the counting of votes which was suspended since Sunday following a dispute between the UML and the Congress resumed only this morning. It is uncertain how many days the school will be closed for.
Triyuga High School in Udayapur-1 has also been closed for a week. In this school, which is the constituency of Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka, the counting of votes was put off due to a controversy regarding the counting of votes. The counting of votes in schools has started after the instructions of the Election Commission. Similarly, due to the counting of votes in Adarsh Secondary School in Morang, education and training remains closed for a week.
The fact that Komal Oli, a member of the House of Representatives from the UML, visited schools and distributed election campaign materials to children and taught parents to vote has become public. The Election Commission only sought an explanation from her but did not take any action. As a result, the candidates started flouting the law and the data of children being used in the election campaign, entertainment and even in the election has become public.
Due to the fact that polling stations were set up in most of the schools on November 20, the government had decided to close all educational institutions on November 18, 19 and 20. Although the elections have been completed, some schools have not been cleaned and the counting of votes in some schools has not been conducted.
Worth of stories
Rajesh Sharma, president of the Children as Zones of Peace National Campaign(CZOP), clarified that a public study report on the situation of children and school exploitation by various political parties and independent candidates in the election on Monday revealed that a total of 216 cases of child exploitation were registered. CZOP has registered these incidents with the Election Commission and the National Human Rights Commission.
According to the provision in sub-section (2)(g) of section 66 of the Children Act 075, the act of organizing children for political purposes or using them in strikes, blockades, sit-ins, processions is considered an offense against children. Whoever commits such an offense is liable to a fine of up to Rs 5,000 and imprisonment for three years.
School as Zone of Peace National Framework and Implementation Guidelines 2068 aims to keep schools free from party politics and other interference. In addition to this, according to the provision in Section 3 of the Election Code of Conduct 2079, the code of conduct is applicable to political parties, candidate groups, non-governmental organizations, schools, and the media. In the same code of conduct, there is a provision that children should not be used or made to participate in election propaganda, public meetings, processions, and as per section 4(c) and section 10 of the election code of conduct, schools and teachers should not be used in propaganda.
But according to CZOP’s study, out of 216 cases of children being used in elections across the country, it has been found that 25 schools were involved in party election propaganda, speeches, rallies, school buses were used and four teachers were used in elections. “Out of total 216 incidents, it was found that children were used in 144 incidents in propaganda and rallies, while children were used in 12 door-to-door programs,” Chairman Sharma said, releasing the data, “It was found that children were used in incidents including 18 in public meetings, 13 in propaganda materials and 28 as artists.'' He added, “Although the Election Commission presented itself strongly in other incidents, it only asked for explanations over the use of schools and children for election purposes, but because the action process was not taken forward, it was seen that the parties and candidates could use children in their election campaigns. Now the CZOP has suggested using ward offices and government agency offices instead of schools in the next election."
Similarly, it is mentioned in the report that children were used in 98 cases by the Democratic-Left Alliance, 71 cases by CPN UML, 34 by other seven parties and 13 cases by independent candidates.
The Nepali Congress used children in 22 cases, CPN (Maoist Center) in 13 cases, CPN (Unified Socialist) in 8 cases, Loktantrik Samajbadi Party in 3 cases, Janata Samajwadi Party and Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal in 9 cases, Rastriya Prajatantra Party in 12 cases, Rastriya Swatantra Party in 7 cases, and independent candidates in 13 cases. The data has been registered with the Election Commission and the Human Rights Commission.
Chief District Officer of Sunsari, Indradev Yadav, said that the Bhagwati Secondary School of this area has been closed for a week due to the election. He stated that schools have been converted into polling stations because there are no other options and pointed out that alternatives should be found in the future.
"The government had closed the school only till November 21 for election purposes, but the school could not be operated till November 28 because of the election,"said Chief District Officer Yadav.
