National 3 (Spotlight Weekly)

Denial Of Rights

With frequent closures of schools, the basic right to education of children is being denied

By SANJAYA DHAKAL

When countries are drawn into conflict, children become the most vulnerable section of their societies. The examples of the last couple of years have amply demonstrated that Nepalese children have been severely affected by the situation of conflict in their motherland.

Whether it be the direct effects like being killed, maimed, orphaned and displaced or the indirect effects like loss of teaching-learning environment, the children had to bear all kinds of hardships over the last half a decade.

School children : Unwarranted victimization

According to Lava Prasad Tripathy, spokesperson at the Ministry of Education, schools around the country could open only for 120 days in the last one year. The incessant closures, strikes, Bandhs, threats and intimidations have forced the schools both private and public to close down for so many days in the last year alone.

Despite repeated calls by civil society members, donor agencies and others, the politically motivated agitations have hit the school students hard.

More than 40 percent of the total population of Nepal comprises of children. The children under the age of 18 years number 9.4 millions, which is 46 percent of the total population. Likewise, children under the age of 16 years comprises of 43 percent while those under 14 years occupy 40 percent.

Hardly a month passes without some incidents forcing the closure of schools. After a series of closure announced by the student wings of the Maoists, last month was the turn of the seven student unions affiliated to different political parties to padlock the schools. Even the private school operators closed down their own schools.

Amid such adverse environment, the fundamental rights of children for education have been ruthless by trampled by sundry actors. "Maybe the demands by the agitating organizations are justified. But in the name of fulfilling their demands, no organization can violate the children's basic right to education. Nobody should use education as a medium to fulfill their various demands," said Gauri Pradhan, president of Child Workers in Nepal Concerned Sector (CWIN).

The right to primary education for children has been universally recognized. From the UN Convention on the Rights of Children 1989 to International Senegal Declaration 2000. "These are such basic rights that they must not be infringed even at war time," said Pradhan.

Child rights organizations like CWIN and Save the Children -Norway have called to make Children as Zone of Peace. UNICEF officials, too, have made similar suggestions. These organizations have suggested respecting children and the places where they are, as zone of peace. Such places include health centers, hospital, schools, courtyards, playgrounds and so on.

SAARC Standing Committee Meeting

The foreign joint secretary-level program committee of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) met on Tuesday (July 8) in Kathmandu to set the tone for the foreign secretary-level standing committee meeting, which will be held on July 9-10.

The officials of all the seven member states of SAARC had already arrived in Kathmandu for the Tuesday's meeting. The foreign secretary-level standing committee meeting is expected to decide on the date for the 12th summit of the regional body.

Although, the 12th summit was scheduled to be held in Islamabad in last December, it could not materialize due to rising tensions between India and Pakistan. Owing to adverse environment in the region, the summit meeting could not be fixed.

As such, the agreement by the entire seven member states — Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives — to sit for the standing committee meeting is seen as a positive development. Given the thawing in the relations between India and Pakistan, the prospects for the summit are brighter, say experts.

Dr. Madan Bhattarai, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that the standing committee meeting of the SAARC will go a long way in strengthening regional cooperation. The Kathmandu meeting is expected to endorse the report of the technical committee and regional centers.