Private schools agree to reduce fees in Nepalgunj

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NEPALGUNJ,Aug 15 -Private schools have agreed to cut down fees of the students in the range of 25 to 45 per cent.

The agreement was reached during the talks between the Private and Boarding Schools’ Organisation (PABSON) and All Nepal National Students’ Union (Revolutionary), an affiliate of the underground CPN (Maoist). There has been a 10-point agreement between the student organisation and the PABSON.

The schools had refused to reduce the students’ fees when the committee formed by the District Education Office to resolve the educational problems had asked them to reduce fees to some extent a few months ago.

However, at the talks between the two sides which continued until late at night on Tuesday, they have agreed that schools which charge less than Rs 200 monthly fees will lower the fees by 25 percent, those which charge less than Rs 400 will reduce the fees by 35 percent and those which charge more than Rs 400 will reduce fees by 45 percent. Similarly, schools will not be allowed to charge computer and other fees.

The agreement was reached at the meeting attended by 10 member of the revolutionary students including its member Rishi Ghimire, Banke president of PABSON Surat KC and principals of 25 boarding schools. They agreed that the schools can now run without fear and threat in the current session after reducing the monthly fees as agreed.

It has also been agreed that the private schools cannot charge any fees except the monthly fees, a teacher who was a participant in the talks told The Kathmandu Post.

Proprietors and principals of private boarding schools, however, said the decision would adversely affect the schools.

Principal of Buddha Boarding School Ashish Das Mahabotra said , "We will continue to run the school in the current academic session anyhow, even by bearing the deficit, but we will have to think again to operate the school in the next year."

The District Education Office has welcomed the agreement. " If the schools were closed in the middle of the session, the future of thousands of students would have been endangered," said officiating District Education Officer Ram Suresh Yadav.

Similarly, local guardians and students have also welcomed the agreement. There are in all 45 private schools in Banke district.

Support for blind people’s uplift sought

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BHADRAPUR, Aug 15 - The blind people have alleged that society has not played its role effectively for the benefit of the blind people.

They made the allegation at a discussion programme organised here by Nepal Blind Association, Jhapa on Tuesday.The programme was presided over by the association chairman Dronacharya Niroula.

Former chairman of the association, who is himself blind, demanded that the blind be assisted regularly for their upliftment including in their education and health from the budget earmarked for human resources.

Some of the budget being spent on bridges and culverts should also be spent to bring about change in the faulty attitude of the society towards the disabled people, he added.

Underlining the need to establish a positive and helping attitude of the society towards the disabled people, DDC president Arjun Rai pledged his commitment to assist the blind people as far as the DDC could help from its resources.

Different VDC chairmen and vice-chairmen also pledged their cooperation to bring about a change in the attitude of the society towards the blind.

Programme Coordinator of Disabled Rehabilitation Programme Bhadrapur Ram Keshari Shrestha said the local bodies should run special programmes to make the disabled people self-reliant.

Mysterious disease claims 4 of family

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LIBANG, Rolpa, Aug 15 - At least five people, four of them from a family, have died of a mysterious disease in a remote Phagam Village Development Committee-4, about 30 km north of Libang, the district headquarters, the District Public Health Office (DPHO) said here Tuesday.

Those who died of the mysterious disease have been identified as Chhunu Pun, 8, Nithuri Pun, 44, one-year-old Hastalal Pun and Pari Pun, 17. Locals said that they found all of them dead inside their house when they broke into the house last week.

Bista quoted the locals as saying that one of the dead had vomited and no other symptoms were detected to determine the cause of their deaths.

Another 14-year-old girl from the same VDC-5 also died last week. Locals suspect that she died after she consumed poisonous mushroom.

DPHO Chief Govinda Bista said that he came to know about the incident a week later due to the remoteness. He said that a medical team had been sent to the village shortly after hearing about the incident.

Painting show ends

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KATHMANDU, Aug 15 - A four-day exhibition presented by the students of the University of Texas, Pan Edinburgh of America, in collaboration with the students of Don Bosco College ended amidst a function here today.

The exhibition entitled Share Images which was aimed at exchanging international art and culture was inaugurated by artist-cum- litterateur Lainsing Bangdel.

Don Bosco students exhibited twenty-five paintings that portray Nepali culture, society, nature and nationality. Similarly, 15 paintings were displayed by American students which show their culture.

Committee to probe into irregularities

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DANG, Aug 15 - An investigation committee has been formed under the convenorship of District Development Committee member, Shambhu Gautam, to look into the irregularities made on the foodstuff that was to be provided to the former Kamaiyas for their employment.

The foodstuff was provided by the World Food Programme in cooperation with the technical assistance from the German technical organisation GTZ for the Food Security Project (FSP).

The foodstuff worth Rs 1.5 million was kept aside for the Fiscal Year 2057/58 BS in order to bring former Kamaiyas in infrastructure development.

Sub-overseer of the Food Security Project, Chandra Dev Mahato, reportedly misused about 120 quintals of rice in connivance with the FSP chief Paramendra Kumar Das when the store keeper was on leave.

After the probe committee was formed, about 70 quintals of rice was found to have brought back to the warehouse at night, said Sudan Dangi, an employees at the Dang DDC. The DDC had been given a total of 100 metric tons of food stuff for carrying out various development works through the ex-Kamaiyas.However, the DDC has been able to utilise only 34 metric tons of rice so far.

Although there are a total of 1,127 liberated Kamaiyas in this inner Terai, most of them are deprived of the Food for Work Programme for they are living far away from the working areas.

Singer Bimala Rai honoured

KATHMANDU, Aug 15 (PR)- Singer Bimala Rai was felicitated by the Koili Devi Musical Trust for her contribution to the promotion of the Nepali language through the medium of songs.

This has been decided at the meeting held under the chairmanship of Ganesh Rasik of the trust, says the press release.

The Koili Devi Musical Trust Award is given to singers, musicians and lyricists on the birthday of Koili Devi.

Bhadrapur development committee formed

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BHADRAPUR, Aug 15 - A nine-member committee has been constituted under the convenorship of former member of Rastriya Sabha (National Assembly) Rabindra Chakravarti to take initiative and monitor the overall development of Bhadrapur with the consensus of all parties.

Nepali Congress Bhadrapur Town Committee had organised the all-party meeting for the purpose on Tuesday. The committee is represented by headmaster of Bhadrapur secondary school Pramod Chandra Sharma and Nepali Congress, CPN (UML), CPN (ML), Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Nepal Sadbhawana Party, Jhapa Chamber of Commerce and Jhapa Industry Association.

Bhadrapur was declared municipality in 2008 BS and was a commercial and political centre of Jhapa district before 2030 BS, but it is gradually being turned into a village over the past few years.

The committee has,therefore, been constituted by the Civic Society after it was felt that the citizens should themselves play a leading role for the upliftment of Bhadrapur, said Rajendra Ghimire, president of the Nepali Congress Town Committee on behalf of the organisers.

Gastroenteritis kills six in Dolpa

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DUNAI, Dolpa, Aug 15 - At least six people have died of gastroenteritis while a large number of children remain bed-ridden in several Village Development Committees (VDCs) of this difficult-to-reach mountain district for over a month, according to the District Public Health Office.

Buddha Pahadi, a teacher at a local primary school, said that five people succumbed to the communicable disease from the Likhu VDC alone.

She said that though there was adequate supply of medicine at sub-health post in the VDC, they died of the curable disease due to the absence of concerned health workers.

"A large number of sick people, most of them children, go to the Tripurakot VDC to receive treatment for the disease," she said.

A local who arrived at Dunai, the district headquarters, to treat have his son treated, said that many people were bed-ridden since the onset of this year’s monsoon.

Dr. Rabindra Kumar Thakur at the District Health Office, however, denied of having such cases in the village, saying that he had so far received no information about such reports.

But, Dr. Thakur concedes that a health worker assigned to the Likhu-based sub-health post had refused to go there and another person was beibg assigned instead soon.

Thakur said that it was not the lack of medicine but the unavailability of the skilled hands to deal with the disease that had killed so many people. Most of the government health workers do not want to be assigned outside the district headquarters because of low pay scale and lack of other incentives.

35 ‘Maoist’ workers raid 18 houses

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PALPA, Aug 15 - A group of 35 people, dressed in military fatigue, raided 18 houses and looted property worth more than Rs 85,000 from 9 houses in Jhadewa VDC, Ward-5, Tuesday night.

The armed people declaring themselves to be Maoist guerrillas entered each house and asked villagers to hand over their valuables including all cash and kind at gun point, chairman of Jhadewa VDC Sammar Bahadur Rana said, quoting a raid victim Hum Bahadur Biswokarma.

Brandishing their weapons, they entered 18 houses and collected all the valuables they could lay their hands on. They took away wrist watch, radio, gold ornaments and clothes apart from cash from nine houses. They did not find anything valuable in the other nine houses, victims Hum Bahadur Biswokarma and Hast Bahadur Biswokarma said.

When asked about the incident, Chief District Officer Bhanu Bhakta Pokhrel confirmed the report and added that necessary investigation was under way.

Ex-British Gurkhas handover memo to PM

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KATHMANDU, Aug 15 - A delegation of the civic society, coordinated by former lawmaker Hiranya Lal Shrestha today handed over a memorandum to the Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba over the British government’s discrimination of the British Gurkha soldiers.

The memorandum demands the government to tackle the prolonged issue diplomatically and to find a concrete solution to the pension problems of the former Gurkha soldiers.

It also urged the government to highlight the problem of the British Gurkhas and to table it as an issue at the International Convention Against Racism, taking place at Durban of South Africa.

"We are not asking the British government for a few more pennies than what they are getting. This is a matter of equality and the British Gurkhas deserve it," said Shrestha.

Talking to The Kathmandu Post, Bhupendra Limbu, a standing committee member of GAESO said the former Gurkha soldiers are preparing to file a case at the British Court.

The memorandum was signed by Parliamentarians belonging to the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist), Nepal Peasants and Workers Party, All Nepal Women’s Association, Nepal Federation of Nationalities, Human Rights activists, ethnic group organisations, student unions, writers and journalists.