Ei-iE

Birendra P. Shrestha, General Secretary of Nepal Teachers' Association (NTA) and Baburam Adhikari, General Secretary of Nepal National Teachers' Association (NNTA) attended the inaugural EI EFAIDS workshop in Nepal that took place from 25th until 28th June 2008.

1. How has the new political situation in Nepal affected teacher unions and their umbrella organisation the Teachers Unions of Nepal (TUN)?

GS of NTA: The new political scenario has already affected the nation, so automatically it should also affect the teachers and their unions. The Teachers Unions of Nepal (TUN), was formed by the previous government, at the time of the monarchy. Now, what is happening is that the Maoist party became the largest party and is ready to form the government under its leadership. The sister organisation related to the teachers of the Maoist party, did not accept the other teachers unions before and that continues to affect us today. Before, Maoist teacher unions laid bare so many things about teachers unions and issued many verbal attacks. So now, we are finding it difficult to clarify what they said before about unions to our members. That is why it is very difficult to work together concerning the issues with teachers and education, according to our objectives. Nonetheless until and unless we talk about the rights and the welfare of teachers, the unions will be weak.

GS of NNTA: We are feeling the new change positively. Many people are hopeful about what can be achieved during this period of change. This change will affect the education sector too. With regard to TUN, it was formed as a result of a joint NTA/NNTA request to the Minister of Education. But, Maoists Teachers' Organizations saw TUN as the supporter of the previous government and levelled many accusations at TUN. This affects the way our members feel. Still now, the Maoists are not supporting TUN, though they became the largest political party. Therefore, we are feeling so many problems of solving the teachers issues without their support. If we cannot solve the teachers problems, unions will be weak. In order to move forward together, we are planning to organise many other small teachers and workers organisations in TUN and we are considering changing our constitution.

2. In this new political climate, what do you expect concerning education?

GS of NTA: We, the Nepalese people are not expecting the change will come at once, the economical, geographical and cultural problems in our country are too great. Now, with the Maoist Party coming into power, there are many ideas being discussed. But we question the lack of informed thought and absence of consensus amongst stakeholders – the Maoists need to aim for more consultation. From our experience at TUN what works best is organising seminars to develop education policy involving the many educational stakeholders. From such a process we produced a joint policy paper to express our concerns about the situation of education in Nepal. Our work is based on the belief that education should be for all, it should be inclusive and it should meet the challenges of the 21st century.

GS of NNTA: As one of the important stakeholders, NNTA believes there should be the new educational policy, as per the reality on the ground in the country. Up to now, because of faulty education policies, many young people are unemployed and are moving abroad. So, the education should be linked with the lives of the people. That is why, we are bargaining with the government for quality education, inclusive education and education for all. Up to now, about 13% of school aged children are out of school. How to bring them into school? These practical considerations present a great challenge. Likewise, there are specific problems, such as educating children in mountainous areas, problems of drop out, girls education, etc. So the new education policy should target the above mentioned issues.

3. Why do you think it is important to start the EFAIDS Programme in Nepal?

GS of NTA: In the global context, Nepal is a very small country but with so many problems, and we are concerned with improving our country. For this, the EFAIDS programme will be an important way of tackling related issues. Concerns over education are now joined by an awareness of HIV/AIDS as an issue. So, we want to mobilize our members to minimize this problem. That is why the EFAIDS programme is very important and based on the needs of our situation. We also feel the programme will help the working culture of our unions.

GS of NNTA: Education and health are the two pillars of the development of nations. To fulfil these two pillars, we, teachers' organisations have much work to carry out.. Both of these issues, Education for All and HIV and AIDS are directly related with society. In Nepal teachers can influence change, teachers can speak to remove the misinformation, the misunderstanding of society. So we want to reach society through this programme.

(TUN is the umbrella organisation including 5 teachers unions in Nepal: NTA, NNTA, Teachers Forum of Nepal, National Teacher Council (NTC) and Nepal Revolutionary Teachers Organisation.)