But ANNISU-R has refused to recognize the FDMC decision saying it does not have student representation and maintained that there should be no fee hike in the transitional phase.
Private schools across the country, no doubt, have been charging exorbitant tuition and outrageous admission fees—much more than the limit of two-month tuition fees recommended by FDMC as provided by the Education Act. The private schools should abide by the Education Act and the government on its part should have seen to it and not allowed the schools to plunder guardians.
But this still does not justify the strike. This is no way to protest the fee hike. The rights of students to education can never be compromised and ANNISU-R should instead have taken legal recourse in the issue.
The use of violence to enforce the strike across the country is condemnable to say the least. There have been reports of vandalizing of schools and beating of principals throughout the country. Some schools that were not even opened were also attacked and a community school in Dhangadi registered under public trust was vandalized and its principal beaten.
The timing of the strike, coming as it does just a few days ahead of the Maoists’ ‘final battle’ starting on May 1, has also created doubts about the real intention of the strike. The academic session may have started recently but the education ministry says the fees were adjusted at least a month ago.
That the ANNISU-R chose to press forward their demands now hints that the strike is timed more for the success of the party’s protest than the cause of students and guardians. There have already been claims, including from Education Minister Sarvendra Nath Shukla, that the Maoists plan to keep their cadres coming to Kathmandu for demonstrations in May at the shut schools.
There is also a possibility of the Maoists using this strike to make the private school promoters cough up huge donations. The accusations, if true, show how low the Maoists can stoop for their petty interest and their utter disregard to the future of hundreds of thousands of students.
We hope the student wing of the largest political party in the country is genuinely driven by the interest of the guardians and is sensitive toward the future of the students. We, therefore, urge ANNISU-R to immediately withdraw the indefinite strike. ANNISU-R should limit their role to that of a pressure group to push concerned authorities to start negotiations with the private schools and government to lower fees.
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