KATHMANDU, May 8: Most of the schools in three provinces will remain closed from Monday till May 14 to facilitate the first phase of the local elections slated for May 14.
After the Election Commission (EC) asked the Ministry of Education (MoE) to close the educational institutions for seven days to facilitate the elections, the MoE decided on May 3 to close schools for a week starting Monday.
Schools to be closed for a week for May 14 polls
The EC has directed the ministry in writing to close the educational institutions from May 8 to 14, according to the MoE. “During the seven days, there is a Saturday and May 14 is national holiday for election,” said Dr Hari Prasad Lamsal, spokesman at the MoE.
“The EC wanted to repair the compound walls of the schools and arrange the needed facilities at the schools where polling stations have been fixed,” he added. However, the ministry has not decided about closing all the colleges during the polls.
The Guardians’ Association Nepal argued that the elections should be held even by using school buildings. But the teaching and learning should be conducted for 220 days in a year, according to the association.
The Department of Education has directed the schools to cut down on summer and winter vacations to make up for the classes not held due to the elections. The polling stations are generally located in the schools in all the provinces throughout the country.
The first phase of local polls are being held on May 14 at 6,642 polling centers in the 283 local units including four metropolitan cities, 1 sub-metropolitan city, 92 municipalities and 186 rural municipalities in three provinces—3, 4 and 6 in 34 districts of the country.
