Kathmandu University (KU) has announced the election of the Student Welfare Council/Council. Students have expressed their disagreement.

KU has moved forward with preparations to hold elections through the Class Representative (CR) system. Students have demanded the formation of the council through a direct election system. Student Sumit Mainali said that the election should be held through a direct election system. ‘KU has announced the formation of the Student Welfare Council by electing class representatives.’ Students are demanding that they be able to elect their representatives through a democratic and directly elected system,’ he said.

Students protested at the university in Dhulikhel on Monday demanding the election of the Student Welfare Council on a direct and inclusive basis. Gathering at the university administration office, they also shouted slogans demanding the abolition of the class representative system and ensuring a direct election system.

KU has announced the council election in the faculties of engineering and science on Baisakh 25. Students have been protesting on social media for a week. They have expressed their disagreement through Facebook pages in the name of KU students.

‘When a council is formed from class representatives, students do not even know their representatives. Students should be able to directly vote for their representatives. This is the most democratic method,’ Mainali said. He said that the students started the protest after the university did not listen to their demands. The students have said that they will continue the protest until the class system is abolished and direct voting is arranged.

The government has announced that it will remove the structure of student organizations affiliated with political parties from the university within 60 days and form a non-political student council within 90 days. After the government’s announcement, Prime Minister Balendra Shah and Education Minister Sasmit Pokharel summoned the vice-chancellors of the university and instructed them to implement the government’s announcement. KU announced the election of the student council after the directive.

KU has announced that it is going to form a student council as per the Student Welfare Council Operating Guidelines 2065. ‘At a suitable time each year, the students of each class from each level and each group of each subject will unanimously elect a class representative from among themselves,’ the guidelines state, ‘The class representatives will form a 5 to 11-member student council from among themselves.’ The student council will have a president, vice president, secretary, joint secretary, treasurer and members.

Registrar Rajiv Shrestha said that the student council has been formed in KU on the basis of selecting class representatives and that it is going to be continued. ‘Class representatives have already been selected in 5 faculties. The same method is being implemented in the engineering and science schools as well,’ he said. He said that the guidelines should be changed to provide for direct election as per the demands of the students. ‘Some students are satisfied with the method of being selected from the class representatives.’ Some have said they want it directly,' he said, 'I have asked the deans to discuss with the students and find a solution.'

He said that the university will form a student council only with everyone's consent. 'The council will be formed for the rights and interests of the students. It will be according to their consent,' he said. The students have also accused the administration of choosing class representatives as they wish.

Student organizations close to political parties have also expressed dissatisfaction with the KU directive. They demand that the student council be formed through both the directly elected and proportional (mixed) system. Tribhuvan University has also been holding elections for independent student unions through the mixed system.

On April 21, 2080, KU decided to hold elections through the directly elected system. Last year, Gokul KC, the head of the Student Welfare Directorate, agreed to hold direct elections. Former student Sandeep Thapa said that the students have now started the agitation because the university has backed down despite the decision taken by the all-party student assembly. ‘The university administration is trying to block the democratic right of students to elect their representatives themselves, not through some representative,’ he said. ‘Only a direct election system can represent the real opinion of the general students and make the leadership accountable.’