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Kathmandu Tuesday May 22, 2001 Jestha 09, 2058.
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Uneasy
peace
Uncertainty still prevails in the air. Private schools have
finally opened again after a week-long shutdown, but situation seems to be wobbly. It is
an uneasy peace. Even after several rounds of contentious talks among government
authorities, private school associations and the students’ union
ANNFSU-Revolutionary, all that has been achieved is an unconvincing and temporary
settlement. This hard-earned respite could vanish, if a committee set up to recommend
measures to bring about dramatic change in the education sector falls short of
expectations. If past protests are anything to go by, the student wing of the underground
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) does mean business, and could take up harsher measures
to force a revamp in the unholy mess at academic institutions. Meanwhile, government
officials appear to be too eager to put down their burden. This particular attitude is
likely to act as an open invitation for more trouble and anarchy in our crisis-ridden
education. By all accounts then, the temporary agreement gives little cause to rejoice.
What started as a low-key campaign to reform the education
sector late last year has escalated to alarming heights in the last couple of weeks.
Chances are that the radicals might resort to violent techniques to ensure that their
15-point demand does not go largely unheeded, as in the past. A greater emphasis has been
put on free education at public schools and the reduction in fees at private schools. But
this does not mean that the radicals have pruned their long list. With their new set of
priorities, the ANNFSU-R is trying to infuse a sense of urgency in the authorities
concerned. More than anything else, they have made it loud and clear that setting up
committees and the mechanical procedure of submitting reports won’t help. Their call
is for effective implementation and enforcement of the measures needed. It is to be hoped
that the committee will not be another let down, dishing out high sounding but superficial
stuff in an attempt to quell the disgruntled voices. A thorough review of existing
education policy accompanied by well-reasoned and comprehensive changes palatable to all
sections of society is what the public increasingly expect.
So many policies and task forces have come and gone over
the last two decades. But the quality of education is between bad to worse. So far, the
public, especially the patient sufferers of the country’s defective education system,
have remained silent. But if the government’s performance remains lackadaisical, the
ANNFSU-R’s campaign could draw not only sympathy but also active support from
unlikely quarters. In the face of growing insecurity and malfunctioning at our academic
institutions, some anxious parents are sending off their wards to neighbouring countries
for their schooling. But not all can afford such luxury. Caught between the devil and the
deep blue sea are hundreds of thousands of students and their guardians. A one month
deadline has been fixed. Any wrong move now, by the government or PABSON, an organisation
of private schools, could mean about one million children and seventy five thousand
teachers remaining idle for days or more. The onus is clearly on the Ministry of Education
to end the unrest once and for all.
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