PYUTHAN, May 28: Mandavi Rural Municipality has made it mandatory for all those receiving salaries from the government coffers to admit their children to community schools. This decision was widely welcomed by the locals following which a lot of people admitted their children to community schools.
However, some people who continued enrolling their children in private schools by ignoring the decision of the rural municipality have been fired from their posts. One of the teachers of Bagishwori Secondary School (BSS), Tighra, was recently expelled from the school after she refused to admit her son to community school. The rural municipality office confirmed that Gita Bhattarai, a private teacher of BSS, was terminated for not obeying the decision of the local unit.
Why teachers are important
As Bhattarai recently enrolled her children to a private school, the rural municipality directed BSS to terminate her from her post. She had been teaching at the school since October 28, 2017. She is a resident of Mandavi Rural Municipality-5. Toparam Acharya, chairperson of the School Management Committee (SMC) informed Republica that Bhattarai was relived from her post for educating her son at a private school despite being a teacher of a community school.
"We had repeatedly urged her to obey the decision of the rural municipality but she didn't listen," said Acharya. Meanwhile, Bhattarai laments that the decision is an injustice to her as many other teachers including the principal himself send their children to private schools. "It's fine if those in power choose to educate their children at private schools but we can't do so because we have no one to take a stand for us," said Bhattarai.Though she insisted on admitting their son to a community school, her husband did not approve of her decision, she laments. Bhattarai is yet to submit her resignation but the school has already appointed a new teacher to replace her.
It has been found that Principal Bhagyashree KC's son Darpan Giri is in Grade 1 of Public Boarding School and teachers Padma BC's and Pramila Panthi's daughters are sixth graders at the same school. Similarly, another teacher Goma Dhital has enrolled her daughter at Kalika Boarding school and helper Sabitra Acharya's daughter is a seventh grader at the same school. However, the rural municipality has not taken action against them.
In her defense, Principal KC said that the rural municipality has imposed the rule only on those who live in the local unit. Furthermore, when asked why the local government did not take action against other teachers, Shreedhar Roka, chairperson of Mandavi stated that the rural municipality will take action against them after an investigation.
