Pushed From Pillar To The Post

Once again, the student organizations bring the education sector grinding to a halt by announcing indefinite strikes

By SANJAYA DHAKAL

It seems the troubles for the students and parents will not end soon as they now brace for further unrest in private schools triggered by the decision of the student organizations to impose indefinite strikes.

Students in a classroom : Praying for education

When the seven student organizations affiliated to different political parties announced their intention to go for indefinite strike in private schools paralyzing the whole education system beginning June 22, the future of 1.5 million students was plunged into darkness.

Coinciding with the political parties' agitation aimed at "restoring people's right hijacked since the royal move on October 4 last year when King Gyanendra dismissed the elected government of Sher Bahadur Deuba and replaced it with the prime minister of his choice", the student wings of political parties have organized frequent strikes in schools putting forward a number of demands. With the objective of pressing what they call "King's government" the democratic parties like Nepali Congress and Unified Marxist Leninist are condoning, if not directly encouraging, the activities of their student wings that will deny the basic right to education to millions of students.

At the moment, over 10,000 private schools are at the center of the student organizations' attack. Faced with accusations of exploitation and charging exorbitant fees, the private schools are frequently paralyzed with strikes and lockouts. According to Lava Prasad Tripathy, spokesperson at the Ministry of Education, schools could run for only 150 days in the last one year due to series of strikes announced by different student organizations including the one affiliated to the Maoists. Before October 4, the Maoists' student wing used to impose strikes frequently. That has now changed with the student wings of mainstream parties joining the bandwagon.

The present bone of contention is the demand to make education up to secondary level (grade 10) free. While the seven student organizations have called for making it free, the cash-strapped government has expressed its inability to do so. "The government will require additional resource of Rs 6.5 billion to meet the demand," said Tripathy. "We have already agreed to meet 13 out of 14 of their demands but they are still relentless in their campaign."

Ironically, the student organizations announced lockouts of private schools after the government failed to make secondary level education free in government schools. The decision sparked further unrest in private schools that were already in tatters due to chaotic situation.

The student organizations began their strike by locking out offices of Private and Boarding Schools Organization of Nepal (PABSON) and National-PABSON since June 22. They have threatened to spread their indefinite strike by locking out the offices of principals and accounts section of schools affiliated to the PABSON and N-PABSON beginning June 23, which will subsequently extend to cover all private schools by next week.

Gururaj Ghimire, president of Nepal Students Union (NSU)- affiliated to the Nepali Congress - said that unless the government agrees to make education up to secondary level free, they will not back down from their programs. "The private schools which are roots of different anomalies may be shut down completely if the need arises. Society will then search for their alternatives," he claimed.

Rajendra Rai, president of Unified Marxist Leninist party-affiliated All Nepal National Free Students Union (ANNFSU) warned that they would extend their strike to cover government schools beginning next week. That would mean the future of further 4.5 million students would be at peril.

Small students in political rally : Terrible grooming

"Presently, 1.5 million students study in private schools across the country. This is 20-25 percent of total school-going kids," said Baburam Pokharel, vice president of PABSON. Pokharel defends the fees charged by private schools as being reasonable. "Barring a few elite schools, most private schools charge reasonably. Besides, when you have to provide quality education that demands high-caliber teachers and facilities, costs definitely go high." The average cost of admitting a child in private schools is around Rs 20,000 a year including tuition fees and other expenses.

He points to the fact that 80 percent of students passing the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) — a nationwide annual board examination of grade 10 — belong to private schools as indication of quality education, severely lacking in government schools, they are providing.

Exasperated with unending strikes and threats of total closure, the private schools operators have now began to openly warning that enough is enough. Umesh Shrestha, president of PABSON, said private schools will have to close down themselves if they are unable to obtain fees to cover their costs.

In a hard-hitting article she wrote for a leading daily newspaper recently, Shanta Dixit, a prominent educationist and principal of reputed Rato Bangla School says, "These students are bullies. What all bullies need is someone strong to put them in their place." She accuses the students groups of ruining the education sector. "These groups led by the Maoists initially, and now the other political parties, have been the most responsible in the past five years in ruining education."

Amid the high-voltage showdown among the student organizations, private schools and the government, the parents are caught in crossfire. Suprabhat Bhandari, president of Nepal Parent's Association, said student organizations should not strike in schools considering it could hamper the future of hundreds of thousands of students.

The demands of student organizations got shriller after the results of this year's SLC were made public last week. Almost two-thirds of students ñ out of total 168,000 students who sat for the exams ñ failed, mostly those from government schools, exposing weakness in the education system. "However, instead of making constructive demands to make quality of education in government schools better, the student organizations are set to destroy the private schools that had been providing quality education," said an educationist.

The current impasse in education sector is particularly unfortunate given the dismal picture of literacy in the country. Even the government figures put literacy just over 50 percent. To its credit, the governments after the restoration of democracy in 1990 have continuously increased its investment in education. Currently, education bags nearly 15 percent of total annual government expenditure.

On the top of all this, the recent political developments in the country have taken a major toll on school and college education system. Last week, Maoists forcefully made small school students to attend to its rally in the capital. Though educationists criticized the rebels for doing so, they said the students had come on their own motivated by their desire for change.