Nepali Times
From The Nepali Press
Compromise



Classes will resume as normal after an agreement was signed between the seven student unions involved in the agitation and schools organised under Private and Boarding Schools Organiation Nepal (PABSON) and National Private and Boarding Schools Organiation Nepal (N-PABSON). School organisations, student unions and government representatives attended the talks initiated by Nepal Parents Organisation and the Education Journalists Group. The two national level school organisations agreed to the nine-point demands put forward by the unions. They conceded to providing free education to children affected by the insurgency as well as those of martyrs, 25 percent scholarships and the creation of a taskforce to recommend a fee ceiling for private and boarding schools within a month.

The latter will have two representatives each from the government, student unions, private and boarding schools, parents and missionary schools. The Education Ministry also assured the recommendations would be implemented within 15 days of the task force's submission.

After the talks, PABSON president Umesh Shrestha said schooling would resume, but N-PABSON president Raj Kumar Thakuri added it may take a few days for things to return to complete normalcy. Student leader Rajendra Rai said the unions were forced to resort to closing schools and street protests because the government failed to implement recommendations made by earlier taskforces. "We hope we will not have to take to the street again with the same demands," said Rai.

In the meantime, the student unions have decided to continue a lockout of the offices of the principal and the accounts section of Kathmandu's Rato Bangala School. Rai said Rato Bangala was singled out because the school authorities had "misbehaved" at the offices of various political parties despite assurances from the students that the student-school dispute would be settled through talks.

On 30 June, private schools decided to close indefinitely when they could not agree on the four demands made by the student unions. The decision affected more than 1 million students attending about 8,500 schools across the country.


LATEST ISSUE
638
(11 JAN 2013 - 17 JAN 2013)


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