Left-wing students unions were waiting for the SLC exams to end to begin their protests. The students' groups interested in organising the bandhs, boycotting classes and holding the education system to ransom are aligned to the UML, the ML and the Maoists. The unions are going their separate ways, but their demands are similar, and some clearly impossible to fulfil. The Revolutionary Students' Wing, which is very close to the Maoists, has 15 demands, including the abolition of school fees. They also demand that children of all high ranking government officials, including the PM, ministers, heads of all constitutional bodies, political leaders and MPs, study in government schools. They want the teaching of Sanskrit language to be discontinued, the present national anthem scrapped and replaced by one that represents the "true feelings" of the people. They say that if their demands are not met by the end of this month, they will be forced to take drastic action.

The students' wing aligned to the UML has also presented to government a list of 46 demands, some new and some old. Some of their demands are: immediate reduction of fees in private boarding schools, an end to the teaching of Sanskrit in schools, starting many of the proposed middle schools, investing more in the education sector and providing quality education to all. These unions have planned several programmes from 29 April to 9 May. If these demands are not met by then, they say, they will launch a nationwide agitation. As a first step, the union will burn down the chairs of all corrupt district education officers, teachers and headmasters. The group also says it will publish a list of all boarding schools that are not going about their business in a proper manner and take action against them.

The students' wing of the ML also has similar demands. Besides the regular demands which all unions have, the ML student group wants a 50 percent cut in public transport and entertainment costs.