Concerns raised over deteriorating education standard

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KATHMANDU, Feb 26 : Ills besetting the education sector in Nepal and its probable solutions were brought out at an interaction programme organised by the Education Journalists’ Group here today.

Speaking at the programme, chief guest professor Dianna Kenny made an elaborate presentation on the education scenario in Nepal, based on her own research. She expressed concerns over the poor attendance prevalent in Nepal’s public schools, both from the side of teachers and students.

"The quality of education in Nepal is very poor. Poor attendance of the children and teachers in public schools is one of the key problems faced by the education sector here," said Kenny.

"There should be peace in the country. Children should get adequate nutrition, without which development of the brain and subsequent cognitive capacity gets impaired. Clean drinking water and proper sanitation is another necessity to combat various diseases," said Kenny, further stressing the importance of scientific development of curriculum and teaching material for ensuring quality education.

Similarly, Lava Prasad Tripathi, spokesperson of Ministry of Education, pointed out that the government’s policy to hand over the management of public schools to local communities will assist in solving some of the major problems faced by our education system. "We have planned to train 90 per cent of teachers," said Tripathi.

Similarly, Keshav Prasad Bhattarai of Teachers Association of Nepal expressed his views on the quality of education. He said," Quality is the matter which is very difficult to define and measure," further adding that it is very easy to make slogans on quality.

Journalists from various media organisations actively participated at the interaction programme.

Conservation of Himalayan bio-diversity stressed

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KATHMANDU, Feb 26 : An international conference on Himalayan bio-diversity commenced here today with many experts emphasising the need to conserve the bio-diversity of the Himalayan region.

The main purpose of the three-day conference is to help develop eco-tourism through identification and preservation of bio-diversity in the Himalayan region.

About 165 representatives from 15 countries are attending the conference being organised jointly by Himalayan Resource Institute, Bio-diversities Research Group, Central Botanical Department of Tribhuvan University, Ecological Society of Nepal and Nepal Bio-technology Association.

Inaugurating the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Badri Prasad Mandal said nations should come together to monitor and preserve bio-diversities.

Expressing the government’s commitment in the conservation of the bio-diversity in Nepal, he said the conference will come up with useful recommendations that would help in formulating policies in this direction.

Another speaker, professor P S Ramkrishnan of the Jawaharlal Nehru University stressed the need not only for recreating and conserving both biological resources and cultural landscapes for sustainable development and livelihood of the local communities in the mountain regions but also for promoting eco-tourism.

" Once we lose bio-diversity, it is hard to recover in the future. It is very important to deal with the issues of bio-diversity from social, economic and cultural perspectives to conserve its integrity," he observed while adding there are both crisis and opportunity in its management.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Brajanandan Prasad said there is a need of strict regulation to check the illegal export of natural resources especially of medicinal plants. Dr Gabirel Campbell of ICIMOD also spoke about the importance of conserving bio-diversity.

Talks, peace need of the hour

RSS

KATHMANDU, Feb 26 : Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Nayan Bahadur Khatri has said the role of the civic society is more important than the role of the government and the non- government organisations.

Speaking at a programme on ‘Role of the Civic Society on Restoration of Peace’ organised by the Dr. Dilli Raman Regmi Trust here yesterday, he said there are frequent violations of human rights in the country.

Former foreign minister Shailendra Kumar Upadhyaya and foreign affairs expert Hiranyalal Shrestha while commenting on the working paper presented by ex-vice-chancellor of T.U. Mahesh Kumar Upadhyaya said that the nation will have to bear a great loss if the talks are not in the interest of the nation.

Trust vice- chairman Himalaya Shumsher JB Rana said talks and peace are the need of the day.

Dr. Dilli Raj Khanal of CPN-UML said the government- Maoists talks should discuss social issues.

At the function presided over by trust chairman and NA ex-chairman Beni Bahadur Karki, various other speakers including literary critic Jagadish Ghimire, politician Shribhadra Sharma, human rights activist Malla K. Sundar, water resource expert Dr. Dwarika Dhungel, ex- chief election commissioner Bishnu Pratap Shah, Prof. Bishwombhar Pyakurel, industrialist Banbarilal Mittal, politician Ganesh Pandit, Ananda Dev Bhatta of CPN-UML, economist Ananda Aditya, Dr. Surya Lal Amatya, ex-chief secretary Karnadhoj Adhikari, ex-secretary Dr. Prabha Basnet and advocate Krishna Prasad Bhandari also expressed their views.

Legal provision on kidney transplant likely

KATHMANDU, Feb 26 (RSS)- Health Minister Dr. Upendra Devkota inaugurated a three-day kidney treatment refresher workshop seminar organised by Postgraduate Medical Education Co-ordination Committee, Bir Hospital here today.

Dr. Devkota said government effort is on to make correction in the legal provision about the kidney transplant treatment and brain haemorrhage death.

He also stressed the need to generate awareness about the kidney disease. "There is the need to make fair assessment whether the country is in a condition to use the technology," he said.

"The kidney transplant should be done in the government hospital", he added.

Assistant Minister for Local Development Dr. Asarfi Shah said there is the need of the involvement of the medical sector while formulating law in health sector.

Dr. Dinesh Nath Gangol, chairman of the Nepal Academy of Medical Sciences, chaired the function.

Abandoned children on rise

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KATHMANDU, Feb 26 : There should be more political commitments in view of the increasing number of abandoned children in the country and state laws relating to protection of children’s rights should be implemented to ensure social security of these children, said Upendra Keshari Neupane, chairman of Child NGOs’ Federation today

He was speaking at an interaction programme on ‘ Abandoned Children and Their Rehabilitation’ organised by the OCED Nepal to discuss the rehabilitation of the abandoned children in the country.

Criticising lack of zeal on the part of the government to implement its commitment to laws concerning child rights protection, Neupane expressed deep concern that the manifesto of no political party has so far reflected a commitment in this direction.

Over the years, the country is witnessing a big increase in the number of children who have been found abandoned. While poverty and poor financial conditions have led many parents to abandon their children, political conflicts have deprived many children of the custody of their parents.

Participants expressed concern that although there have been many NGOs working for such children, their number has actually increased instead of declining.

J.M. Sharma of Lazimpat Club in a study revealed the open border between Nepal and India is contributing to rise of such children saying that 70 per cent of such children are found to be of Indian origin while only 25 per cent of them were Nepalis. The OCED has 17 such children,

Senior Superintendent of Police Chuda Bahadur Shrestha said that the police is greatly cooperating in the rehabilitation process of such children and women through its women cells. He called for an effective government policy for their rehabilitation.

Minister for Forest, Badri Bahadur Basent called on NGOs to incorporate family planning programme and education for women to check such problems.

Govt gets flak for delay in reconstruction of offices in Sallery

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KATHMANDU, Feb 26 : The Remote Area Committee of the National Assembly today accused the government of failing to reconstruct offices in district headquarters of Solukhumbu, which were destroyed by the Maoists 15 months ago.

A report prepared by the members of the committee after their on-the-spot inspection visit to Sallery, the district headquarters, last week stated that the reconstruction works of government offices are still affected due to the government’s indifferent attitude.

Altogether 14 buildings occupied by government offices had been completely destroyed in the Maoist attack in the district headquarters on November 25, 2001.

"The government has not done anything yet except the construction of Chief District Officer’s residence and setting up a line of V-Sat telephone," said RAC chairperson Gaura Koirala.

"It is an irresponsible attitude of the government to ignore the setting up of the government offices even after such a long period," she said.

The RAC members also accused the government of humiliating government employees working there. "A clerk at the District Revenue Office has been working there for the past 22 years in the same office while an agriculture officer has not been promoted for 23 years," said Bir Bahadur Singh, another RAC member adding that such a policy of the government has compelled the employees to live a hopeless life.

Tilak Prasad Neupane, another RAC member said the government employees working there are being humiliated by the government and deprived of serving in the well-facilitated districts.

Police seize over-loaded van

RSS

KATHMANDU, Feb 26 : Police seized a 14-people capacity van after it was found carrying 43 students on their way back home from school at Baneshwor here on Tuesday.

The van with registration number Ba.1 Ja. 2176 is owned by Everest Academy School that also runs a 10+2 programme. The students travelling in the packed van were between four to 11 years of age.

This was disclosed at a press conference organised by the Valley Traffic Police Office here today.

Call to make Copyright Act effective

RSS

KATHMANDU, Feb 26 : The law related to intellectual copyright should be enforced effectively for Nepal’s fundamental identity at a time when science and technology as well as international commerce has been rapidly growing.

It has been pointed out that copyright preservation is to be given high priority at a time when Nepal is preparing to enter into the World Trade Organisation.

A national seminar on the enforcement of copyright and related rights organised jointly by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, the Copyright Protection Society of Nepal (CPSN) and the Japan Copyright Office with an objective of making the Copyright Acts in Nepal more effective kicked off here today.

Deuba not averse to constituent assembly

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KAILALI, Feb 26 : Former Prime Minister and President of Nepali Congress (Democratic) Sher Bahadur Deuba has expressed willingness to extend support to the idea of going for a constituent assembly but said that the constitutional reforms should be far reaching.

Deuba, who was addressing party activists in Dhangadi, said that his party has not changed the stance on a number of issues of national importance ever since he headed the government.

"If going for constituent assembly is something which is agreed on all-party lines, our party would not oppose the idea," Deuba said, adding that the future course should be along progressive and not regressive lines.

Recalling instances of how the talks had broken down leading to chaos, Deuba said the concern of the party is to rule out eventualities which derailed the talks last time around.

Saying that the Maoists had walked out of talks by making a single telephone to inform the government about their intention. He also said that he did not receive much support from his own party and other leaders.

He also claimed that the Maoists had last time around announced the cease-fire after it became clear that they were not in an unassailable position. He also said that the moves coming from king were unconstitutional and that he acted irresponsibly to land the nation in the current crisis.

Deuba also claimed that he was in favour of holding elections under any circumstances but had to back out owing to pressure from other political parties. Deuba is scheduled to address rallies in Doti, Dadeldhura, Mahendranagar and Tikapur.

Insecurity prevails despite truce

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BAGLUNG , Feb 26 : Despite the announcement of cease-fire, the families displaced by the terror unleashed by the rebels are still an insecure lot.

Tension is mounting since there is no word on when the talks would actually get underway. The families are coming under increasing tension since the government and the Maoists are hurling charges and counter-charges.

Additional source of worry lies in the fact that while the government has not removed the security forces from areas where they were deployed, the Maoists are openly working to organise themselves on better lines. This has been the constant source of concern among the locals as well as the displaced people.

"If both the sides have decided to hold talks seriously, why should the police check the people moving here and there. Why should the Maoists talk about war and weapons ?"queried a local.

They also said that both the sides look with suspicion at the people who are displaced from various places and camping in the headquarters.

Hari Subedi, who has moved out from Tara VDC nearly a year ago says, "If they are talking of peace, why should police and the Maoists look at us with suspicion?" He also lamented the fact that the government has not given any relief package to the displaced people. The number of people who have been displaced by the violence perpetrated by the rebels now stands at 43.

Kabir Prasad Gharti, local CPN-UML leader said, "How long is the government going to keep us in hiding citing talks? Granted that they are interested in talks but what stops them from reposing faith on each other," he further queried.

Meanwhile, all the displaced people have ruled out going back to their respective villages until and unless the talks succeed in peace. But far from peace setting in, both the sides are stepping up their watchful attitude against each other.

Meanwhile, local leaders of the Maoist outfit have issued a press statement saying that there has not been any change in the security arrangement after the cease-fire. They have also demanded that the government ease off security arrangements if the peace talks are to take place.

Timber worth Rs 2 m seized, three held

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RAUTAHAT, Feb 26 : A joint party of police and forest officers which carried out a raid on the villages situated near the border confiscated around 4000 cubic feet of smuggled timber worth around Rs two million.

It is learnt that this is the first time that such a huge quantity of illegal timber was confiscated from that area after the declaration of cease-fire.

In the raids conducted over a week in Pourai, Chandranigahapur, and the border VDC of Bhawani in this district, large quantities of logs were seized from the homes of some of the people residing in those villages.

After the increase in the intensity of Maoist activities, the forest rangers began evacuating from their forest posts, thus providing the impetus to the timber smugglers to intensify their activities. Most of the logs recovered from these areas were found buried under the ground.

The team also arrested three persons involved in timber smuggling along with the timber, assistant forest officer, Rakesh Karna said.

It is learnt that the area police at Chandranigahapur have been co-operating with the forest officers around that region to curb most of the smuggling that has been going around in this part. In the process of raiding Jayarajpur village of Bhawanipur VDC near the border region, 58 rounds of aerial shots were fired to bring under control a group of villagers that had come to rescue the smugglers. Among those arrested were Lal Bahadur Thapa from Pourai, Jajul Mansuri and Shesh Mansuri from Jayarajpur.

Rebels hold public meet in Bara

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BARA, Feb 26 : Maoist activists organised a public meeting as part of the sacrifice week announced by the party. The public meeting organised at Dumbarbana also saw security forces intervening and taking away construction materials brought by the activists to build a martyr’s gate. The Maoist activists were preparing to build a structure worth one hundred thousand rupees.

The public meeting was addressed by district commander of the Maoist outfit, Jamin Prakash Shah among others. All the speakers said that the war in the future would be between them and the palace. The eventual aim, they said, is to have control over central governance.

They have also issued demands to publicise the whereabouts of the people who have been missing after they were rounded up from various places in during the last seven years. The press statement issued on the occasion also claimed that the local police had requested the dacoits to abduct Maoists if they find them alone before eliminating them.

They also said that they were ready to call a press conference and give definite proof of the fact that the police is working in tandem with the dacoits.

Similarly, a report from Mahottari said that the Maoist leader identified only as "Lochan" accused the government of not taking their offer for talks seriously. "In fact this is evident in the government not forming the talk team yet," he said.

Demanding that the government would have to merge the Maoist militia and the army to raise what he said would be known as national army, he further said that there has been no secret agreement with the palace.

"This is the concerted ploy to disrupt the talks. We are very much clear in ourselves and assure the rest that there has not been any underhand agreement with the king," he assured.

Saying that it would be misleading to say that the talks are taking place with the government, he further said that the talks are taking place between the new and the old regime, meaning the king.

Conceding that there were three major power centres, the king, the Maoists and the political parties, he added that "at the moment it is the king and the Maoists who are still relevant while other political parties have become redundant."

Since the meeting was addressed by local leaders of other political parties they demanded to know as to what kind of agenda were the Maoists harboring. They also wanted to know the reason as why the Maoists were pressing for election of the constituent assembly.

Series of looting incidents in Tanahun

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TANAHUN, Feb 26 : Tanahun residents are worried over growing looting incidents in the district for the past few months. Such incidents have got further momentum after the declaration of truce and the security personnel suspect the Maoists to be behind this.

A group of eight bandits broke into the houses of Ananda Bahadur Thapa and Indu Maya Nepali at Kotdurbar VDC-4, last Saturday. The gang decamped with cash and valuables worth over one hundred thousand rupees.

The bandits have mostly targeted people with low economic status and with fragile houses. Such incidents were common in Ramjakot, Gajarkot, Dhorfedi, Khairenitar and Dulaigauda in the past few months, according to locals.

Over four dozen robbery cases are filed at the District Police Office (DPO) to date and eight persons are held in judicial custody in connection with the robbery incidents while four are being interrogated, according to police. The bandits, during the looting incidents, asked the victims on the movement of security personnel in the district, according to a victimised family source.

Social service fund set up

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MYAGDI, Feb 26 : Myagdi DDC recently formed a social service fund in order to rehabilitate those displaced by the insurgency. The fund is named as ‘Myagdi Social Service Fund-2002’. A meeting attended by people from different walks of life had decided to establish the fund.

The fund has Local Development Officer (LDO) as its co-ordinator and the Chief District Officer (CDO) as its assistant co-ordinator. Besides receiving donations from various bodies, preparations are underway to arrange capital for the fund through various other ways.

The District Administration Office (DAO) is to levy extra charges for issuing passports, land registrations, and sale of tobacco and liquor products in the district to contribute capital to the fund.

The fund shall invest 20 per cent of its capital for education, 20 per cent for health, 30 per cent for rehabilitation and the rest in other areas except for the five per cent which is to be used for sundry matters, according to Badri Nath Ghimire, the CDO. However, the officials to run the fund have not been appointed as of yet, said Ghimire.

Road projects thrown out of gear

By Kul Chandra Neupane

POKHARA, Feb 26 : Work on nearly 13 roads, scheduled to be built under foreign assistance, has come to a grinding halt. This comes in the wake of the failure to receive promised grant assistance and credit to the tune of Rs 20 million from the Japanese government.

Since the budget earmarked by the government for roads in Kaski, Parbat, Myagdi and Baglung, which fall under Kaski Divisional Office of the Department of Roads, has been held up, owing to Maoist insurgency, work on all the road projects has come to a halt.

All the road projects were supposed to receive funds from the Japanese government to the tune of nearly 99 per cent. Meanwhile, work is underway on Baglung road which too is restricted to its maintenance. The government has also prioritised improvement of the road in urban areas. The roads on which construction work has stopped fall in the second and third priority list.

Meanwhile, the task of black topping the Baglung road has been completed at a cost of Rs 30 million. The project was completed under credit from the World Bank. However, work on roads which were scheduled to be taken up for beautification has not yet started in the absence of funds. The budgetary need has been put at Rs 6.8 million.

"The work has come to a halt. We have no budget. In fact we have not been able to keep our staff busy," Hari Om Shrivastav of Pokhara Divisional Office said.

Japan had reneged in its commitment owing to Maoist insurgency, which had rendered the task of carrying out development works as almost impossible. In fact the government had issued a circular to that effect nearly a month ago.

Since the road projects undertaken by Pokhara Division are built under different schemes of the government of Japan, the authorities had decided to stop the work since the funding had not arrived.

However, projects which were under implementation under grant and credit assistance, have not received any budget since the last one year. It may be said that since the budget under certain schemes had not arrived in full last year, there are many contractors who have not yet received payment for the jobs they had completed. Rs 5.6 million still needs to be paid. Since the contractors have not been paid fully, the task of repairing and maintaining the bridges and culverts too have come to a halt.

Meanwhile, the authorities have still to settle the payment of the contractors who worked for the maintenance of the urban road under road beautification scheme. Contractors are still expecting to receive Rs 1.9 million. Although the budget for stretches of road along Siddhartha, Prithvi and Baglung roads was Rs 15 million, the authorities had released only Rs 9.6 million. Shrivastav also said that since the work exceeds the amount released for the job, the contractors have not been able to claim the payment.

Meanwhile, lack of budget has affected the construction of the bridge along feeder roads. The bridges on which work will be affected include a bridge over Beni river in Myagdi, Kaligandaki and yet another bridge on Baglung highway. The bridges, which were on the second priority list are least likely to get Rs 10 million for completion.

However, it may be said that the work on Kaligandaki bridge has been completed to the tune of 23 per cent. The work came to a stop after the contractor received a running bill amounting to Rs 13 million. Similarly work on Myagdi bridge came to a halt after the contractor received a running bill to the tune of Rs 12 million.

While the total cost of the bridge over Kaligandaki is Rs 36 million, the total cost of the Myagdi bridge is Rs 35 million. The authorities have yet to settle the payment of the wooden bridge along Baglung-Burdibang road. The contractor has completed nearly 49 per cent of the job on the bridge. Although the total cost of the bridge is Rs 11 million, the contractor has been paid only Rs 2.4 million.

Similarly, the authorities have called off the process initiated to build a bridge over Bijayapur stream which connects Pokhara. Other projects which have been called off are Sisuwa Deurali, Kisti, Nirmal Pokhari and Bharat Pokhari, among half-a-dozen others.

Experts search for snow leopard

TAPLEJUNG, Feb 26 (RSS)- The Kanchanjungha Conservation Area has started the search of snow leopard, which is considered to be an endangered animal in the world. The search of the snow leopard has been launched in the lower areas of the district as the leopard are estimated to come down due to the increasing snowfall in the northern area of the district, said project manager Ang Phuri Sherpa. Snow leopard is estimated to be found in Olangchung, Lelep and Yamphudin Village Development Committees in the northern side of the district . A snow leopard search team of experts of Manang district led by Chyume Sherpa has come here in search of the snow leopard. Though the exact number of the snow leopard is not known, it is estimated that there are a large number endangered snow leopard in the area, Yugal Kishor Thakur, Forest Conservation Officer said.

128 family planning operations conducted

BARDIA, Feb 26(RSS)- One hundred and twenty eight family planning operations were conducted in a day by chief of the District Health Office Bardia Dr. Prabodh Regmi which is probably a record number in Nepal. He had conducted minilap and vasectomy operations in camps run in Rajapur. Generally, a doctor can operate 30 - 40 cases, health workers said.

SLC toppers honoured

TRISHULI, Feb 26 (RSS)- On the occasion of Education Day Shiva Prasad Rimal, educationist, honoured students securing highest marks in the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examination of 2058 at a function held at the local Nuwakot Adarsha Multiple Campus yesterday. On the occasion, Mira Manandhar was honoured for discipline and Govind Adhikari of Krishna Secondary School, Taruka, for securing 70 marks in Nepali, highest mark in Nepali in the district. Rimal retired recently after serving as a teacher in the school for 32 years and five years in the campus.

Govt decision affects Bal Mandir students

By J. Pandey

BANKE, Feb 26 : The latest central level agreement between the Ministry for Women, Children and Social Welfare and Nepal Children Organisation (NCO) to convert a primary level school under NCO into a children’s home has doomed the future of around 200 children studying in the school, according to concerned sources.

The school Bal Mandir, the only of its kind in the district, meant for children from deprived sections of society is in operation for the past two decades. Mostly the children from Chidivar, Godiya, Badhai, Dhibi, Kori and Dhimal ethnic communities have been studying in the school, according to school sources.

However, NCO and the Ministry recently decided to convert the school into a child orphanage to accommodate the children of the insurgency victims.

The children studying in the school are between the age group three to 13 years. While the students are sitting for their final examination due to commence next month, NCO issued an order letter to vacate the school building, pushing the future of the school children into darkness, said Urmila Sapkota, school headmistress.

"Before initiating such a move, the authorities should have noted that they do not push one to hardship in their attempt to protect others" remarked Sapkota. "What happens to the children who cannot attend another school?" Sapkota questioned.

The letter from NCO has put the students and the teachers alike into confusion on their future move, said Rama Tamang, a school teacher who has been serving in the school for the past two decades.

Since the decision was reached at the central level, he can do nothing, voiced Govinda Man Shrestha, Chairman of NCO district working committee.

"I can only suggest that if the school building is expanded it will serve both the purposes," said Shrestha.

However, the Ministry of Education has not consented to convert the school to a children home. "The present decision can’t be enforced until okayed by the Ministry of Education," according to Ram Suresh Yadav, an official at District Education Office (DEO).