Three Ministers Hold A Meeting As Part of A Desperate Bid to Placate Teachers

With the Federal Parliament not in session, three line ministries are stepping up efforts to allay concerns of protesting teachers.

As part of their latest effort to make the state address their one-point demand—the passage of the School Education Bill through the Parliament through the incorporation of the six-point agreement reached with the then government on September 22, 2023—teachers of community schools from across the country have been staging a protest in Kathmandu for about two weeks.

On April 15, Minister for Finanace Bishnu Paudel, Education MInister Bidhya Bhattarai and Minister for Home Affairs Ramesh Lekhak are holding a meeting at the Ministry of Finance with regard to the teachers' demand amid increasing concerns over the possible impact of the teachers’ protest on the academic sector.

The meeting indicates the government’s willingness to address the teachers’ demand through Cabinet and ministry-level decisions, in view of a debilitating impact a prolonged agitation may have on the academic sector. 
It may be noted that some youth leaders of the Nepali Congress have also started piling pressure on the government to address the teachers’ demand.

On their part, the protesting teachers have threatened that they will not return to their respective schools, not mark SEE answer sheets and won't play any role in the upcoming grade XII exams unless and until the government fulfills their demand.