Joint Commitment Of All Leaders
Nation Needs It

By Prem N. Kakkar

Inter-party and intra-party fighting seems to have become a way of politics in the past twelve years since 1990. Such fights can be tolerated to some extent but not all the way. But such has been the events that unfolded in the past that a necessity has been felt for the parties not to wash their dirty linen in the open.

Passage

There is no doubt that the political leaders are mature enough to realise the repercussions that come about due to fighting over trivial issues. They are mature enough and have the experience to guide the country forward on the right path. There are times when forgetting everything else, they try to hype up minor issues and demands which is in no way provides safe passage for the numerous challenges and problems confronting the country.

It has many times in the past. An important one was the deadlock in the House when UML demanded for the resignation of the then Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala. It may have been the opposition party’s demand but stalling the House for days on end just does not make much meaning. It is just a waste of the valuable hours of the august gathering.

The same thing happened some time back. The House was stalled over the statement made by the Chief of Army of Staff last week. Demanding something is something but stalling the House is something else. The House is where the serious issues are discussed and decisions taken and not a place which requires sloganeering or an uproar. After all the leaders know how important they are and they are in the House to frame laws for the welfare of the people and not disrupt the meetings. Such activities are a loss for the country. Probably, everyone concerned understands it but the behaviour does not match the high level of understanding.

Has it to be always a tussle between the ruling and the opposition parties? The obvious answer would possibly be a straight ‘No’. Despite this realisation it often has been seen that the House meetings get stalled time and again. The interesting fact in this regard is that no one justifies the action to the satisfaction of the people who have sent the lawmakers to represent them in the parliament.

The case of the CPN (UML) is ot unknown. A few years back with differences among the party members it split up as two political parties. Fortunately, now they have united with the differences concealed. Even the Rastriya Prajatantra party split up. The Nepali Congress party has
been lucky, from the people’s point of view, of remaining united. Of course, one can see the rumblings within NC every now and then. Issues get blown out of proportion and gets deflated within some time. Is that a good sign? It may not be. Every member of NC must realise that unity in the party is a must for it to survive. And any problem that crops must be dealt with appropriately. Ad hocism cannot work in the long run.

NC must feel its obligation to support its government and provide all possible assistance that it remains in power.

All the distortions started after the mid-term polls in 1994. That was the year when no party gained majority in the parliament. Governments followed in succession including the minority government of CPN (UML) and other coalition governments. That period of time is viewed as the start of a rather difficult times for politics in the country. Vying for power anyhow was the rule of the day and no one took it for real that the days ahead would bring greater complications in the future. After all it is the legacy of the time that the numbers game has not been eliminated for real.

A recent event shows to what extent things can go. An all party meeting was called by NC some time back. What they discussed at the meeting were issues of common concern. As for the agreement on working unitedly for radical social, political and economic reforms it needs applause. But will what they have expressed be a reality. No one knows for certain. Turning commitments into reality is wishful thinking. If they had not been then the political environment in the country would have been far better.

herein, it may be worthwhile to focus on the issue of constitutional amendment. All the parties are shouting hoarse over amending the constitution. NC too has jumped into the bandwagon
though belatedly. Even Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is willing to go along if a national consensus emerged. He is of the view that the amendment, if it takes place, must benefit all and not a few selected ones only. This is right, view it from any angle.

Doubt

But, as human nature is, wishing for the best is ever-present. If everything goes as has been expressed by leaders representing the main political parties of the country, better days are ahead. Still, there remains doubt. That is another facet of human nature for real.

Problems Of Different Kinds

By Jawahar Manandhar

ONE of the significant charges that has taken place in the country after the restoration of multiparty democracy in 1990 is, without any doubt, in the field of education. Not that the education sector had not been given due importance in the Panchayat system; during that period too the presence of hundreds of private boarding ‘English medium’ schools is the testimony that there has been tremendous development is this sector then and sufficient thrust has been given for the improvement of standard of education of the school going children in terms of quality. But the changes in the higher education has been observed only after the People’s Movement in 1990.

The burden, or shall we say, the responsibility of hundreds of thousand of students of various disciplines which only the Tribhuvan University has been shouldering has gradually decreased with the establishment of various other universities as a result of the liberal policy adopted by the post 1990 government. The Kathmandu University (KU), Pokhara University (PU), Purbanchal University (PU) besides medical university, are the testimony to it. Not to be lagged behind are the hundreds of private campuses which have been successfully running various levels i.e. ten plus two and Bachelor’s levels under the affiliation with one university or the other. The opening up of these campuses, has to some extent, lessened the pressure on the TU which had to accommodate in the past all the applicants due to various factors, low fee structure being one of them. The system of cramming 150-200 students in one class may be the thing of the past, hopefully.

If TU has felt the sigh of relief the private campuses, on the other hand, have been facing the problems of different kinds. The high fee structure which goes normally upto Rs. 40,000 per year is beyond the reach of most of the parents. Agreed, the results of these campuses are far better than that of the students of TU they have a hard time in holding all the students who enrol in those campuses because the parents cannot afford to spend that huge amount for three years. As a result they are forced to accept fifty per cent more students than the advertised number of 20 students in each class, because some of the students leave when they cannot manage to secure top slots in the internal examinations which entitle some sort of rebate in the form of scholarships to a limited numbers of students each year. Since these private campuses are charging "exhorbitant’ fees they have to provide sophisticated environment providing the students fans in the summer and heaters in the winter besides blue or white board and markers and not black boards are in the TU campuses. And the most important aspect is the installation of numerous computers which has become a must these days not only in these campuses but also in the private boarding schools. All these definetely require a huge amount of investment which goes even upto millions of rupees if one is tempted to run a moderately good campus with wall to wall carpet in each class.

When you have to invest millions of rupees to run a campus it is but natural that you have to compromise on different fronts; it is not only imparting knowledge and giving quality education the results too have to be constantly good. For this you have to have good, competent teachers who are very difficult to hire with the same salary given by the TU, besides, providing the facilities which the students normally do not get at the campuses under the TU. On top of that the students who enrol in these compuses are, normally, from the affluent classes and very much pampered by the parents or guardians who think that since they have been paying Rs. 40,000 a year all the responsibilities now lie with the campus and the teachers.