The ISTU called the strike to press its 13-point demand. The ISTU said Wednesday´s strike was symbolic and meant to pressurize the government to immediately implement agreements reached with private school operators in April and June of 2007 and October 2009.[break]
“This is only a symbolic protest. If the state appears positive (towards meeting the demands), no further protest will be required,” ISTU President Hom Kumar Thapa told Republica. Thapa added that ISTU would decide on further protests if the state turns a deaf ear to their demands.
The union is demanding implementation of all agreements between the union and the government that include appointment letters, prevailing salary scale, provident fund, insurance, and gratuity for teachers, and an end to the practice of appointing and dismissing teachers verbally. “We also believe that the old Education Act is obsolete,” Thapa further said. “We are also demanding that the provision requiring private schools to be registered under Company Act be dropped.”
The strike has affected the district-level exams of the eighth-grade that was scheduled to begin from Wednesday in Bara, Parsa, Morang, and Ilam, among other districts. The final exams from nursery to the ninth-grade at private schools are also set to start this week. “The district level exams at both private and government schools are conducted simultaneously,” said Ram Binaya Singh, the chief education officer of Bara district. “Therefore, the closure of private schools affects the exams at all the schools,” he added.
Meanwhile, Bimal Thapa, secretary of Private and Boarding Schools Organization of Nepal, said some private schools where the final exams were already under way were affected by the strike. Geeta Rana, chairperson of National Private and Boarding Schools Association of Nepal, said the strike that was called without a prior notice was against teachers´ ethics.
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