Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, August 25, 2003
Nepalese Teachers Threaten to Shut Down 37,000 Public Schools
A joint teachers' committee announced Sunday it will compel 37,000 public schools across Nepal to shut down if the government fails to address their demands within the next month.
A joint teachers' committee announced Sunday it will compel 37,000 public schools across Nepal to shut down if the government fails to address their demands within the next month.
"If the government turns a deaf ear to our demands, then we will be compelled to close all the publish schools in the country," The Himalayan Times newspaper on Monday quoted Babu Ram Adhikari,general secretary of the Nepal National Teachers' Association, as saying.
The so-called Joint Teachers' Struggle Committee comprising four Nepalese teachers' organizations presented a protest letter on July 9 to the Education Ministry, in a bid to force the government to meet their demands.
The demands include provision of permanent license to temporaryteachers, revocation of the decision on deploying temporary teachers on assignment to areas under the anti-government guerrillas' threat and provision of compensation to families of the anti-government insurgency victims.
The school shut-down will affect some 7 million students in the Himalayan kingdom.