KATHMANDU, March 4: The teachers working at community schools working under the government relief quota and at early childhood development centers (ECDCs) centers staged protest in Kathmandu on Sunday against a provision in the draft of the Federal Education Bill.
More than two dozen teachers were injured when police charged batons to stop the protest.
The Politics of Quotas
According to the relief quota teachers’ association, about 40,000 teachers are working under relief quota at public schools and around 26,000 female teachers are working at ECDCs across the country.
The teachers came to the street after the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) in the draft Federal Education Bill proposed that only 20 percent of the relief quota and ECD teachers be made permanent through internal competition.
“We should be treated equally, just like the temporary teachers. Because the government earlier allocated 70 percent of the vacant teachers’ seats for temporary teachers and they were appointed through internal competition,” said Khem Raj Adhikari, president of the agitating teachers’ association. “About 18,000 teachers from across the country marched from Maitighar to New Baneshwar on Sunday,” he claimed.
Adhikari further said that more than two dozen protesting teachers including more than a dozen female teachers were wounded when police charged batons on the rally. “Some teachers got their legs fractured in police action and some were detained by police,” he said. “So, we will organize strong protests from Monday,” he warned.
However, Babu Ram Thapa, president of Nepal Teachers’ Organization, which is affiliated to the ruling party, and also a representative of Nepal Teachers’ Federation, said that they do not support the protests of the agitating teachers.
