EDUCATION-NEPAL: Politics Keeps Children Away from School

By Damakant Jayshi Reprint | | Print |

Damakant Jayshi

KATHMANDU, Jul 2 2003 (IPS) - More than 1.5 million children in Nepal are having what promises to be a long break, although school vacation is over.

Nearly all of the up to 10,000 private schools in this Himalayan kingdom have been closed indefinitely starting Jun. 30. They are caught in a tussle between the government and student unions – affiliated with political parties critical of the government – on tuition fees and curricula.

Many parents are now toying with the idea of withdrawing their children from local schools – and those who can afford it are thinking of sending them to India and other places.

The Private and Boarding Schools’ Organisation of Nepal (PABSON) and National Private and Boarding School Association Nepal (N-PABSAN) decided to suspend classes on Jun. 28, after talks between the government and the seven student unions failed on the nine demands put forth by the student groups.

This despite the fact that the unions are all college and university based and have no standing in schools, prompting accusations that schools are becoming a casualty in a political battle between the government backed by King Gyanendra and its critics.

N-PABSAN on Tuesday agreed to resume talks with education officials, but those who have to miss classes are not very happy.

"I am worried about the study hours lost in the school," said Asish Acharya, a student of Grade 8 of Little Angels School, one of the largest private schools here.”The loss means that the teachers and we have to rush through our syllabus when school reopens."

In this academic year 2003-04, which began mid-May, some 27 days have been lost due to agitation launched by the student unions that began in June.

The unions are demanding a "significant reduction" in fees charged by the private schools, provision of scholarship to 25 percent of enrolled students in a school, making the syllabi in private schools similar to that of public schools, and making the institutions run under some public trust.

The union leaders said that they have twin purposes: to reduce the fees in private schools, and to focus attention on the huge gap in performance and quality standards between private and public schools.

Every year, the annual secondary-level board exams give a very dismal picture. This year only 32 percent of the 170,389 students passed the exams that are known as ‘Iron Gate’.

To force the schools to concede to their demands, the student organisations, all affiliated with political parties, locked the principals’ offices and accounts sections in some 300 schools, including 200 in Kathmandu, since Jun. 23.

The number of private schools varies between 8,500, according to government data, to 10,000 as claimed by the school organisations. Government data says there are some 800,000 students in these schools.

Some parents told IPS that a big number of private schools were indeed charging "exorbitant" fees without providing facilities in return, but did not approve of locking the principals’ and accounts offices.

"The schools are looting money from us," fumed Uma Bhandari, whose daughter is in in Grade 6 at Pushpa Sadan Boarding School and son at Grade 3 Green Lawns Academy here. "We are simply helpless and have no option but to comply with the exorbitant fees without any corresponding facilities."

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a parent whose son and daughter study in Galaxy Public School said that "high-bracket" schools charge fees from parents on different pretexts.

He said schools charge extra money for library, computer use, magazines, development fees, building fund and children’s welfare fund, among others. "But closing the schools is no solution,” he added.

Just before the imposition of the state of emergency in November 2001, the Maoist- affiliated student union launched a violent campaign against fees, forcing many schools to scrap admission charges, development and building fees.

Parents alleged that many schools have reneged on the spirit of this agreement by charging fees under various headings.

The Jun. 28 deadlock arose over two points: a significant reduction in private school fees and the provision of scholarship for at least 25 percent of the student population.

B N Sharma, vice chairman of PABSON and principal of Children’s Paradise Higher Secondary School in neighbouring Lalitpur district, said they are not in a position to reduce the fees as demanded by the unions which, "in any case is very vague".

He said private schools cannot provide scholarships to 25 percent of students unless the government gives subsidies.

Meantime, Sunaina Shah, a member of parents’ association of Rato Bangala School, one of the most reputed schools, said that the standoff could force parents to send their children to school in neighbouring India. "This will be so unfortunate against the rights of the children to study in their own country. We as parents have the right to decide where to send our children,” she said in an interview.

But she pointed out that this was not the case with most reputed schools. "Lack of transparency and infrastructure have given the unions the handy tool to launch their campaign,” she added.

Suprabhat Bhandari, president of the Parents’ Association, Nepal echoed fears of student exodus to "India and elsewhere".

All three – Sharma, Shah and Bhandari – accused the student unions of "being politically motivated". Said Shah: "The private schools are being used as pawns by political parties to further their political agenda."

Their accusations come at a time when the political parties’ street protests against King Gyanendra – whom they accuse of violating democratic principles by appointing an unelected government – has waned significantly. The unions, say the three, are being instigated by the parties to keep up the momentum of the agitation.

On Tuesday, U.N. Children’s Fund representative Suomi Sakai was quoted as saying: ”Not even schools have provided a safe haven for children. This is unacceptable.”

But Gururaj Ghimire, president of the largest student body, the Nepal Student Union affiliated with the Nepali Congress party, said: "This is a baseless charge. Our aim is to reduce the burden of the parents who are forced to pay such exorbitant fees."