Temporary teachers end strikes

December 2, 2004
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Following an agreement with the Education Ministry, the temporary schoolteachers ended their protest from Thursday.

As agreed between the ministry and the Temporary Teachers Struggle Committee following a late-night negotiation, a high-level committee will be formed to assess and address the problems of the temporary teachers.

According to ministry spokesman Laba Prasad Tripathi, the 11-member committee will comprise of representatives of the temporary teachers, ministry officials, teachers’ unions and the guardians.

He informed that the government was going to make permanent 50 percent of the teachers who have completed five academic years.

Demanding permanent status and resettlement of teachers displaced due to conflict, temporary teachers had intensified their protests since last week, closing down public schools around the country. Two temporary teachers who were on fast-unto-death since November 22 also ended the same on Wednesday midnight.

There are an estimated 40,000 temporary teachers in government schools across the country.

Spokesman Tripathi said at a press conference today that the high-level committee would see to the possibility of reviving the decision of the erstwhile Krishna Prasad Bhattrai government, a few years ago, which had declared to make permanent all temporary teachers completing one academic year. The decision was later quashed by the Supreme Court.

“The Teachers Service Commission will publish vacancies every year which, we expect, will end all the controversies within a few years,” he said.