The representatives of Nepal Educational Republican Forum stayed away from much anticipated talks with the Education Ministry officials in presence of Minister of State Mohan Singh Rathore on Sunday evening.

However, the Forum has decided to allow schools to open from Monday.

Reports say that the Forum members decided not to sit for talks at its meeting held in the afternoon claiming that there was no conducive environment. No new date for the talks has been set.

The Forum, however, decided to allow schools to open saying they received assurance from eight party leaders about fulfilling their demands. The meeting between representatives of the Forum and Maoists’ student wing reached the decision to allow the schools to resume classes.

Furthermore, the Forum has warned to resume its strike after one month (from June 27) if their demands are not met by then.

Earlier, on Sunday, Minister of State Rathore is said to have waited for the representatives of Forum the whole day for the talks to end the ten-day-long strike in education.

Since May 17, over 35000 schools across the country had remained shut down. Over 7.8 million students have been affected with the indefinite strike launched by the Forum demanding equal pay and other benefits to teachers of private schools at par with teachers of government schools.

In fact, protesting the police intervention in their sit-in on Friday, the Forum – with active backing by pro-Maoist students and teachers – had imposed valley bandh on Sunday, which was withdrawn after 5 pm.