Schools close due to absence of teachers

By a Post Reporter

HETAUDA, March 20 - Most of the primary schools located in the remote VDCs of Makawanpur district have remained closed for months due to the shortage of teachers.

Teachers of Kamaladevi, Kailash and Gupteswori primary schools are absent for months and the schools have remained closed, VDC Chairman Salik Ram Thing told The Kathmandu Post.

In Khairang VDC also classes have been disrupted due to the absence of teachers, according to VDC Chairman Raj Kumar Malla.

Similarly, teachers of Kailash primary school in Dandakharka VDC have been absent from school for 45 days, according to a local guardian.

Four out of the total eight primary schools in the district have remained closed due to the absence of teachers, a local resident Harka Bahadur Bal said.

It is said that information, both oral and in writing, has been given to the District Education Office about the absence of teachers. However, officiating District Education Officer Badri Pathak said the office had not received any information about the prolonged absence of teachers.

Two die in road mishaps

By a Post Reporter

DAMAULI, March 20 - Two persons died in separate road accidents here today.

Madhumaya Rimal, 33, a resident of Dulaigaunda VDC died on the spot when a bus ran over her, according to Deputy Superintendent of Police Keshav Raj Adhikari. The bus, Na.A.Kha 743 was heading towards Pokhara from Kathmandu.

Following the incident the locals blocked the road for four hours, which was later opened after settlements of compensation between the locals and the police.

In another incident, Suresh Sen was killed when the motorcycle he was riding met with an accident. He died when he was being taken to hospital.

Religious freedom not clear in constitution

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, March 20 - Fundamental religious freedom is not clearly defined in the Constituition, said speakers at a discussion programme today.

Under the co-ordination of Alert-Nepal, a group dealing in citizens’ rights, participants said the Constitutional article and laws dealing with religion are ambiguous, making it dificult for certain minorities to practise their religion.

"If a religious community is not clearly defined, the question of its rights remain unresolved," said K.B.Rokka, president of The Nepal Bible Society.

Nepal’s updated 1990 Constitution makes it clear that any form of proselytizing is illegal but people are free to follow the religion of their choice.

"What we would ultimately like to see is the choice of a community’s religion remaining optional. This means, even tolerance for minority religions should be mentioned clearly in the Constitution," said the founder of Alert, Narayan Prasad Ghimire.

Pre-primary school teachers in capital

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, March 20 - In order to mobilise local participation and to initiate pre-primary schools in all VDCs of Nepal, 300 pre-primary school teachers from 13 different districts have gathered here.

"Except for some urban schools, most schools in Nepal do not have pre-primary schools," said Nir Bikar Shrestha, Coordinator of Pre-primary School Project. "The government has started pre-primary education but they have not yet reached most of the districts," he said adding the project aims to start pre-primary schools in all the 4000 villages of Nepal in the next five years.

The pre-primary schools run under the Pre-primary School Project, a joint venture between Nepal Children’s Organisation, Dhankuta and a Swedish NGO Unga Ornar, are in 107 villages, according to Shrestha. The project aims to orient children from the age group of 3-5 to formal school.

Central Board Member of Unga Ornar, Austin Lovegreen said, "education is the most important investment for the country" adding the project has been a "working model for pre-primary schools".

Consular General of Sweden, Gajendra Bahadur Shrestha stressed on the need for the donors to focus on the proper utilisation of their funds. "Donors should be more concerned about whether or not their funds are utilised properly," he said.

Spring heralds fire incidents

By J. Pandey

NEPALGUNJ, March 20 - Thousands of people are losing their houses and property every year with the coming of this month (Chaitra) which heralds incidents of fire and storm in the Banke district.

Since there is lack of modern technology and equipment to control fire, Tribhuvan Lal of Ramnagar Betahani in Banke district appears worried. He had left his village after the incident of fire and had come to Holiya. His house again caught fire about a month ago for the second time. In all, 22 houses were reduced to ashes along with his house.

Another victim of fire, Palesar Godiya says he has been staying under a shed covered by a yellow plastic has not been able to build his house. "Once this season begins, I am apprehensive that this hut will also be gutted by fire one day," he said.

Even before the fire that caught the house of Godiya was brought under control, fire blazed in Katkuiya-8 and reduced 72 houses to ashes.

"We were screaming "water, water" and pouring water on the burning houses with buckets. Some people rushed for the fire-brigade. As the fire-brigade arrived, all the houses had been burnt. If we had a fire brigade in this area, the damage would not have been so massive . We would not have been homeless," Jokhan Pasi and Bachhu Ahir said.

In this way, hundreds of houses in Banke district have been reduced to ashes every year during this season. More than 13 thousand people have lost their houses over the last five years and about two thousand houses were reduced to ashes.

At the very outset of this year, a big fire in Kutkuiya VDC destroyed 72 houses. Another 74 houses of Kalaphanta were destroyed by fire this month. Most of the villages where incidents of fire occur in this district are located to the eastern part of Banke district.

Branch Officer of Red Cross Iswori Prasad Regmi says," 80 percent of the incidents of fire take place in villages across the river Rapti. By the time when the fire brigade arrives at the site, most of the houses are already burnt."

He said 96 percent of the incidents of natural calamities taking place here are related with incidents of fire.

The incidents of fire taking place frequently in villages across the Rapti River have proved to be complicated and a nagging problem. LDO Nilhari Subedi says the need for at least one fire brigade was felt last year also. The Chief District Officer also raised the issue, but it evaporated eventually with none of them insisting on the need.

The problem has become very serious and more than 10 million rupees worth of relief assistance has been distributed to people over the last five years. Despite this, the request for another firebrigade has fallen on deaf ears, said Maiku Kha who is also a victim of fire incident.

As the houses in the Terai belt are built in clusters and are attached with each other, the carelessness of one householder leads to the destruction of the whole houses in that particular cluster. The VDC chairman Om Jung Rana says many Indian nationals are also living in the eastern belt of Banke and some of them set fire to their own huts as alleged by some donors of NGOs.

One official suspects that such incidents are increasing because the owner of an ordinary hut gets more from the Red Cross, DDC, District Administration, VDC and other NGOs than what he really loses. Moreover, fire victims may get timber from the jungle and this can be sold to the saw mills at the market place with good profit.

In any case, another fire-brigade has become a must for Banke district where there is currently only one firebrigade. If incidents of fire take place when the firebrigade has gone out to some places, the whole town may be reduced to ashes, Madhu Sudanogi of Modern Doors and Wood Products Pvt. Limited said. He had to bear the loss of 2.5 million rupees last year when his industry had caught fire.

If there are calls for firebrigade from two places at the same time, they can go to only one place because there is only one firebrigade. Therefore, another firebrigade is urgently needed, according to executive officer of the municipality Chiranjibi Bhandari and Fireman Rikh Bahadur Rana.