What is it with our politics that anytime anyone has a grudge against anyone else, it is the classrooms that get bombed, teachers that get harassed, schools that get padlocked, universities that get shut down, and children that get forced to join political rallies?

Nepal's education system, or what remains of it, has been the first target of every political agitation. The Maoists demolished the national school system in the two years of mayhem in which hundreds of teachers were killed, tortured and hounded out of the villages. Schools across the land were forced to close down, and in many places they remain closed. Their rationale was the irrational logic of revolutions: destroy everything before rebuilding.

It is a legacy of the Panchayat that underground political parties exerted their presence through student wings, turning campuses into hotbeds of political dissent. Nothing wrong with that, of course, a politically active academia was at the vanguard of the Peoples' Movement that ushered in democracy in 1990.

But by trying to resurrect the conditions of 12 years ago, political parties are flogging a dead horse. And by deliberately targetting schools and adopting the same tactics of intimidation, arson and vandalism as the Maoists, the parties\' student wings have shown themselves to be no better. But the blame lies with their political mentors for whom all this is just an extension of their continuing parlour games. Instead of closing down schools, why don\'t they take volunteer cadre to remote schools which have been without teachers for years? Instead of forcing buses off the roads and shutting down the country, why not repair trails and bridges desroyed by the insurgents? Who said protest always has to be destructive to make a political point?

One can trace this lack of imagination primarily to the degradation of our education system over the past 40 years. Reforming the school system is therefore the priority for long-term evolution of a democratic and non-violent political culture. But if the school system itself is the chief target of coercion, how are we ever going to come out of this rut? It is time to take the goal of declaring schools a politics-free zone seriously, and take the schools out of the hands of power manipulators.

The past 12 years of democracy turned the streets, and not parliament, into an arena for the battle of wills between parties. In fact, our inspiration seems to come from the political badlands of Bihar and Bangaldesh. So, if an opposition party doesn't like the ruling party, it will bring the country to a halt. And vice versa when tables are turned. The motto seems to be: if I don't like you, I'll punish the people. The country's citizens end up paying for the reckless selfishness of greedy politicians who don't give a damn what happens to our nation.

We are paying the price for this now. Politicians who wrecked the country in the name of democracy for the past 12 years have shown they haven't reformed, their modus operandi is still the same, and we can expect identical behaviour when they return to power. How are we going to break this paralysing cycle of ruin?

The present state of flux actually presents an opportunity for reform. And that initiative rests with King Gyanendra, who by his act of taking on executive powers through a nominated cabinet will have to show required statesmanship. A meeting with the parties to come up with a new interim team to prepare for elections is long overdue. What is preventing him from doing this?

The king's advisers should note: the lack of public support for the street agitation does not mean that the Nepali people want a return to pre-1990 autocracy.