Samajwadi Students' Union President Netra Chapagarin has been standing and dharna all day at Maitighar Mandla for a week demanding reform of public education. After standing for 2 days in the capitals of all the seven provinces, they started standing in Maitighar from 14th of this month.

In the cold of Pus, he stands by the side of the road from 10 am to 5 pm. Standing for 7 hours a day has started swelling my feet. But the Ministry of Education has not heard anything about the demand and sit-in," he said. His main demand is that the Education Act should be promulgated as soon as possible according to the recommendations of the Higher Education Commission report 2075. 

Most of his 15-point demands focus on public school reform. Last May also, he stood at Maitighar and staged a dharna for two weeks. The sit-in ended after an agreement was reached with the then Education Minister Sumana Shrestha. He said that the sit-in started again after the Ministry of Education did not show readiness to implement the agreement for 6 months. Education Secretary Deepak Kafle said that since there is no information about the dharna, we can only respond after understanding.

Last October, Chapagai suggested 14 points to Education Minister Vidya Bhattarai asking him to implement the agreement. After no hearing, Bhattarai's home town Pokhara started a sit-in and he reached the federal capital Kathmandu via Dhangadhi, Janakpur.

 He demands that early childhood development (ECD) education should be brought into the school structure, the annual scholarship given to students should be increased by Rs.

Similarly, the funds received by schools including administrative expenses should be increased, free education should be provided, teachers should not be allowed to join party organizations, residential schools should be operated in hilly districts, the monthly allowance received by community school principals should be increased, if there is a lack of budget for education reform, an educational reform fund. He has put forward the demand that it should be made.

Political parties, parliamentarians, student organizations, civil activists, teachers' federations, ECD teachers and school staff have also been showing solidarity in his sit-in. Although the school education bill was registered in the parliament during the previous government's tenure, it could not be passed. The bill is under consideration in the Education Committee of the Parliament. The

committee is collecting suggestions at the state level. ECD education is not included in the structure of school education in the bill. Chapagain has put forward the demand that school education should be recognized and that ECD education should be a priority of the government.

He said that the overall education will improve only if ECD education is improved. He demands that the state should increase investment in ECD education and provide attractive services to the teachers who teach there. 35,000 ECD teachers have been employed by the government at low wages. They get salary of only 15 thousand per month. Now there is a two-thirds government of Congress-UML. If this government wants to, it is possible to improve education,' he said, 'who has stopped them from improving public education?' 

Since 2060, only Rs 400 per year scholarship has been given to underprivileged students, so he demands that it be increased. "Since 2052, the principal has been getting a monthly allowance of Rs 200," he said, adding that the ward office receives Rs 2 lakh for operating expenses. The school only gets 10,000. He complained that the state does not pay attention to improving public education. He suggested that the cost of running the school should be increased to at least 1 lakh, which is not enough for a month.

 ''The water and electricity bills in big schools in the city are more than one lakh per month,'' he said, 'the government gives free electricity to the temple. Why can't schools be given 100 units of electricity per month for free?' Chapagai expressed his displeasure that even though secondary education is free, the government charges fees in the name of exams and certificates.