National 4 (Spotlight Weekly)

Terror Targets

With the major political parties mired in trouble, the Maoists resume their campaign of terrorizing schools

By A CORRESSPONDENT

Nepal's education institutions have always been vulnerable to political assaults. Whenever political parties or students' groups want to create panic in society, they call a general strike and disrupt public and private schools.

Although the rest of society considers education institutions centers of teaching and learning, political parties and affiliated student unions do not hesitate to use them as recruitment camps. With the restoration of democracy, the situation in public colleges and schools has gone from bad to worse. With the emergence of Maoist violence, all types of education institutions have become soft targets of terrorism.

When the Maoists attacked government schools demanding the removal of Sanskrit from the curriculum and ending the practice of singing the national anthem, civil society showed little concern. A few years later, when the rebels started to attack private boarding schools, civil society came out against the Maoists. Following the imposition of the state of emergency last November, educational institutions heaved a sigh of relief, as assaults were drastically reduced.

With the end of the emergency, the Maoists seem to be in a new mood to terrorize education institutions. In the space of two weeks, workers of the Maoist-affiliated banned student union have assaulted two boarding schools in the capital.

Last week, they attacked Chandbag Boarding School in Bansbari, causing considerable damage to property. The Maoists repeated their act by attacking Galaxy Boarding School in Gyaneshwar, damaging two school buses and parts of the building.

At a time when the Maoists are striking at basic human rights by denying children their right to go school, human rights organizations and civil society are busy with their own agenda. The intention of the Maoists seems to be clear: they want to terrorize the education institutions ahead of their planned general strike.

Criticism has been coming from parts of the political establishment. "We condemn the move of the Maoists to terrorize the educational institutions. The children must be allowed to take part in learning activities," said Arjun Narsingh KC, spokesman of the Nepali Congress.

Other mainstream opposition parties, too, have denounced the Maoist violence. "It is condemnable on the part of the Maoists to destroy social and economic structures like educational institutions and industries," said Rabindra Nath Sharma, senior leader of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party. "The Maoists must stop terrorizing educational institutions to prove that they are really sincere about a peaceful settlement of the problem."

Despite such denunciations, the Maoists continue to terrorize education institutions. Because of the Maoist threat, many private and public schools outside Kathmandu valley have closed down. If civil society continues to show apathy over the Maoists assaults, it will encourage other groups to follow similar ways in future.

Civil society demonstrated its power last year when it compelled the Maoists to withdraw their three-day general strike called on the eve of the School Leaving Certificate Examination. Through similar assertiveness, civil society and human rights groups can prevent renewed Maoist assaults on schools.

"The Maoists are just a part of the problem. As long as the major political parties refuse to disband their students outfits, the education system will continue to live in uncertainty," said the principal of a boarding school on condition of anonymity. "Even if the Maoists withdraw their violent campaign, other student outfits would be tempted to follow a similar path."

At a time when the country's education system is in perpetual decline, the only solution is to free these institutions of politics. Terrorism in schools can be prevented, but the task requires the full commitment of civil society, teachers and political parties.