Almost 50,000 teachers working in schools throughout the country have not been made permanent. These teachers have been agitating for the last three years for a change in their status but since nothing has come of their efforts, they are planning to change their course of action. The question of appointing teachers on a permanent basis has now become a political one. The Nepal Teachers' Association and the Nepal National Teachers' Association, aligned to the Nepali Congress and the UML respectively, have decided to work together to solve this problem.

An agreement was signed between the government and the agitating teachers' associations to make permanent all teachers who were hired on a temporary basis. This agreement was signed in the middle of last year, but even after 17 months, the government has not taken any interest nor has it done anything to implement that agreement. For these reasons, the teachers' associations feel that a new strategy will have to be formulated, and agreed to boycott classes on the 30 November. If no steps are taken by the government to solve their problems, the teachers are prepared to boycott Teachers' Day, celebra-ted on 23 February, and other programmes connected with it.