Police say the school was closed based on a letter from an unknown group.
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Children in some educational institutions in the Kathmandu Valley were deprived of education on Monday due to an academic strike called by a student organization of an unknown party.
The educational institutions closed their schools after receiving a letter sent by the pro-people Students Union, Nepal, calling for a valley-wide academic strike.
Some schools had informed that the schools would be closed the previous day, while some had informed students and parents on Monday morning. Some students had returned to school after hearing the news of the strike. The students union had sent a letter to the educational institutions in the valley regarding the academic strike. ‘This is an organized rebellion of the right pro-people forces against the anti-people education system, commercialization, inequality and state irresponsibility,’ the letter said. ‘It is inevitable for freedom to rebel against bondage, pro-people democracy against bourgeois autocracy, and the proletariat to rebel against imperialist capitalism.’
Additional Inspector General (AIG) of the Valley Police Chief Ishwar Karki said that he came to know about the school closure based on a letter sent by an unnamed group. ‘The police are focused on the protests announced by Miraj Dhungana and the Microfinance Group, and there was a security environment that allowed all schools to open,’ he said, ‘However, work is underway to understand the situation after the schools were closed.’
An official of the Private and Residential Schools Association, Nepal, claimed that the strike was triggered after some people came to ask for donations but were not given. ‘We had requested the police administration to help create an environment where schools could open with peace and security,’ he said, ‘There was a sporadic effect.’ Kathmandu Police Spokesperson Pawan Kumar Bhattarai said that he was not aware of what information the schools sent and why they closed. ‘We are not aware of what the schools did, but there is no lack of security arrangements,’ he said.
A letter had reached the schools in the name of Sunita Budhathoki, President of the People’s Party Students’ Union, Nepal. Budhathoki said that she was on strike so that arrangements could be made for Nepali students, workers and citizens living abroad to be able to vote from this election onwards. "We have also gone on strike to press for free education up to the secondary level as mentioned in the constitution," she said. "Our strike program has been successful." When asked what kind of organization is the People's Union? She said that it is the student organization of the NCP People's Party. This party does not appear to have been registered with the Election Commission yet. According to her, the party's chairman is Mahendra Malla. He is a former Maoist.
