KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress (NC) leader NP Saud has stated that the party should not delay in playing a decisive role in resolving the issues faced by community school teachers.
As the government has yet to address the demands of protesting teachers even after two weeks of demonstrations in Kathmandu, Saud emphasized that the Nepali Congress must now take a firm stand.
“If the government does not immediately resolve the ongoing protest by the Teachers’ Federation, the Nepali Congress should not delay in taking this issue seriously and playing a decisive role in resolving it,” Saud wrote on Facebook.
He warned that viewing the teachers’ peaceful protest as a sign of weakness would be a serious mistake. “The longer the protest continues, the greater the damage to the education sector,” he added.
Saud also urged the government to honor previous agreements made with the Teachers’ Federation.
“The issues that the government has repeatedly agreed upon with the Teachers’ Federation in the past must be addressed, and the problem resolved,” he wrote. “It is very unfortunate that despite repeated efforts by our party to mediate with government stakeholders, no progress has been made.”
Teachers from across the country have been staging street protests in Kathmandu at the call of the Nepal Teachers’ Federation. Saud expressed concern over the government’s continued inaction even after 14 days.
He stressed that it is the government’s responsibility to take the matter seriously and offer an immediate solution to avoid further escalation—such as the halting of SEE paper evaluation, boycotting of Grade 12 exams, and the strengthening of the protest through a general academic strike.
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