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Nepal Teachers’ Federation launched a Kathmandu-centric protest on Wednesday against the Education Bill tabled in the Federal Parliament, with around 15,000 teachers of government schools hitting the streets by disrupting teaching-learning activities as well as road traffic in Kathmandu in their bid to ‘teach’ some lesson to the government and the Parliament about the possible consequences of ignoring their demands.  

Per the federation, the bill has failed to address issues like job security of temporary teachers, creation of non-teaching staff positions, concerns of pre-school teachers, promotion of teachers, appointment of the principal, transfer of teachers as well as performance appraisal. The bill’s provision on empowering local units to evaluate and transfer teachers has also not gone well with the federation, which earlier boycotted a meeting that the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology had called.

The protesting teachers gathered at Maitighar Mandala and marched to Baneshwor Chowk, causing traffic congestions along various stretches, including the Maitighar-Baneshwor-Tinkune-Koteshwor section, and forcing traffic police personnel to reroute traffic.  

Meanwhile, the Kathmandu Metropolitan City has urged teachers not to disrupt teaching-learning activities. In a notice, KMC stated that the teachers’ act of depriving children of education so as to press for the fulfillment of their demands is not acceptable.

The school is a zone of peace and school closure a violation of the law, it said, calling teachers not to shut schools but to opt for some other forms of protest to raise their concerns related to professional development.

If a school within the Kathmandu Metropolitan City is closed or forced to close or if it is found that the children’s right to education has been violated by closing educational institutions, stern legal action will be taken and the concerned individual will be held fully responsible, the KMC warned.

KMC Spokesperson Nabin Manandhar said they have urged teachers to resume classes from tomorrow. “The students’ right to education should not be violated by closing schools,” he said. 

The express bus service has come into operation from Ratnapark of Kathmandu to Suryabinayak of Bhaktapur from today.

The service is operated in collaboration with the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport and the Federation of Nepalese National Transport Entrepreneurs.

Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Prakash Jwala inaugurated the bus service from Shantibatika, Ratnapark. A dedicated lane has been managed for operating the bus service on the 13.4 kilometers long route.

The buses will operate from 9 am to 11 am and from 4pm to 6 pm from Thursday. The government said the express bus service has been brought into operation to improve the public transport sector in Kathmandu Valley.

Twenty-five buses with 40 seats have been allocated for the set time, said Uddhav Rijal, Director General, the Department of Transport Management.

It takes around two hours to travel from Suryabinayak to Ratnapark by public transport during office hours at present. The express bus service will reduce this travel time to 45 minutes.

There will be bus stops at 19 different locations including Ratnapark, Maitighar, Babarmahal, New Baneshwor, Shantinagar, Koteshwor, Jadibuti, Kaushaltar, Gaththaghar, Chardobato and Suryabinayak.

The government on March 14, 2023 decided to operate the bus service in Kathmandu Valley in a bid to manage the public transport. The buses will run in a gap of one kilometer during the office time.

"The government has started this service to convince people that one can reach their destination in the given time using public transport. This is only the beginning," Director General Rijal said, adding that a separate lane has been managed for the buses to be operated for this service and the lane has been painted red. No other vehicles can use this lane during the office time.

Inaugurating the bus service, Minister Jwala said the express bus service has been operated on this route during office time in the first phase to make the public transport in the urban area systematic and to convince the people about the public transport.

"The government's campaign will not be limited to this only. We will improve upon and expand it. Express bus service will be expanded to areas including the airport, Ring Road, Balaju, Maharajgunj, Thankot and Lalitpur, among other places," he added.

Bagmati Province Government Minister for Labour, Employment and Transport, Laxman Lamsal stressed on the need of increasing people's trust towards public transport.

Secretary at the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport Keshav Kumar Sharma maintained that the express bus service has been operated as an effort for making the Valley's public transport system well-managed.

Acting Inspector General of Police Deepak Thapa underscored on making the general public aware of improving the public transport. He added that the police are committed to the safety of the vehicles operated on the dedicated lane.

The Kathmandu Metropolitan City has urged teachers not to disrupt classes while advocating for their rights.

The local government of the federal capital has urged teachers of the schools not to close schools so as to ensure students' right to education.

It may be noted that at the call of Nepal Teachers' Federation, teachers from various schools in the country have gathered in the federal capital, protesting against the Education Bill that was presented in the Parliament recently.

Metropolis spokesperson Nabin Manandhar said teachers are urged to resume classes by tomorrow. "Students’ right to education shall not be violated by closing schools," he said.

The local government is learnt to have instructed the Education Department within it to monitor the situation and take action if the teachers are found closing the schools in the name of protest.

Hundreds of teachers associated with Nepal Teachers’ Association staged a protest in the Capital on Wednesday against the School Education Bill.

The Bill proposes the local units to have authority to transfer and evaluate teachers and the Federation wants this authority to remain within the federal government. 

The Federation has been advocating for permanency of teachers appointed on the temporary basis, creation of sufficient quota for school employees, addressing the issues of montessori class teachers remaining outside the school structure, regular opportunities for promotion, right evaluation of performance, transfer opportunities of teachers and so on.

Federation General Secretary Laxmi Koshore Subedi has said the Federation has urged teachers and employees across the country to come to Kathmandu to take part in the protest.

He complained that the Bill failed to address agreements reached between the government and the Federation on February 21, 2019 and February 21, 2022. 

The Bill aimed to revise the education acts was registered in the House of Representatives on September 13.

Police have arrested four persons for their alleged involvement in snatching gold chains in various places of Kathmandu in broad daylight.

The suspects have been identified as Sujan Gurung (44), bike rider, of Bagbazaar, Kathmandu Metropolitan City-28, Anawar Husain Ansari (48) of Birgunj-17, Parsa, currently residing at Chhetrapati, Shakti Bhaumik (47) of Udayachowk, Modhinapur district, West Bengal, India and presently living in Kathmandu and Sachin Gadwe (30) of Goradawani, Solapur district, Maharastra State of India and currently residing in Pyukhachowk, Kathmandu-22.

Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office said that two were found involved in snatching gold chains and two in selling the robbed items.

They were on the run after snatching a two tola gold chain of Apsara Shrestha of Baluwa, Panchkhal Municipality-12, Kavre while she was walking on the road side at Kuleshwor, Kathmandu 14 at around 5 pm  on September 11.

Police said that they were nabbed from various places in Kathmandu.

The Office said that they along with the seized items have been sent to the Metropolitan Police Circle, Kalimati for investigation.