KATHMANDU, April 19: The Confederation of Nepalese Teachers (CNT) has become dissatisfied with the process of taking action against teachers belonging to political parties by the Minister for Education, Science and Technology, Sumana Shrestha.
Education Minister Shrestha made a policy decision to take action up to the dismissal of teachers belonging to political parties, and the CNT has criticized this move.
Minister Shrestha has advanced the process of taking action against the teachers affiliated with political parties through a ministerial decision last Tuesday. The ministry has written to the Center for Education and Human resource Development (CEHRD), asking it to take action if teachers are found to be in the committee of any political party.
The CEHRD has also instructed the District Education Coordination Unit to investigate the political party affiliation of teachers.
After the instruction of the Minister for Education Shrestha, the CNT expressed its dissatisfaction and challenged the minister to take action against teachers.
Kamala Tuladhar, president of the CNT, asserted that teachers do not work for political parties during their office hours. She said that teachers should be able to express their political beliefs outside of office hours.
She said that Article 18 of the Constitution also provides that citizens cannot be discriminated against on the basis of their faith and that all citizens have the right to hold their faith. She said that even if the teachers have political beliefs, the teachers are aware that they should not reveal it in the classroom.
She also said that none of the teachers have opened a party office and become a responsible official of the party.
She challenged the Minister for Education to change the Constitution, Acts and Laws to take action against the teachers saying that the Education Regulations did not impose any restrictions on the membership of a party. She said that teachers should not be punished on the basis of political beliefs.
President Tuladhar said that teachers should not leave teaching and leave the future of students in uncertainty, adding that teachers are determined to fulfill their defined responsibilities and duties, and that they should be able to work according to their faith outside of office hours.
She said that teachers are carriers of political awareness and cannot stay away from politics and society. She also mentioned that the teachers were not playing politics as alleged by the education minister.