Teachers have a political view, don't carry a party bag

But, for us, politics is the tendency to subscribe to a party and hold your conscience hostage and approve every speech of the leader of a certain party. While politics is the most rational and rational exercise, party flag-carrying is not. Therefore, similar to the democratic practice around the world, public school teachers in Nepal are prohibited by law from becoming members of political parties. However, it is the responsibility of every conscious citizen to support the initiative taken by Education Minister Sumana Shrestha to stop the trend of sitting in the party committee carrying the party flag, affecting educational activities and making the future of children dark.

The Ministry of Education has written to all district units to remove teachers affiliated to political parties. However, it is challenging for the Ministry of Education to complete this initiative in the background of the fact that the teachers belonging to the nationwide organized network have been ignoring party politics at the village and district level for decades. However, if the government succeeds in freeing teachers from party politics by moving forward firmly, it will be an important step for the reform of school education.

Even though the Education Act gives the right to open only one teacher's union, teachers' unions exist across political parties. Most of our teachers belong to political parties in one way or another. The opportunity is also significant for teachers who have faced accusations of being less involved in the classroom and more involved in partisan politics. Teachers are accused of weakening public school education due to political influence. Moreover, teachers have an active presence in every activity of the party at the local level. The number of teachers in various executive committees of political parties is also large. Teachers also make students participate in political party gatherings. The most serious issue is that teachers are playing an interventionist role in law making through unions.

Especially the party workers have become teachers due to irregularities in the appointment process. The practice of taking temporary or contractual appointments under the supervision of a party or leader was widespread. Until a few years ago, the ruling party had influence over the Teachers Service Commission examination. Lately, the examination system of the Teachers Service Commission has improved. But the trend of teachers joining political parties and being active in party activities is the same. This means that teaching is poor in many public schools, which is also indicated by the results of the SEE. There is no doubt that the reason why teachers send their children to private schools instead of public schools where they teach themselves and pay expensive fees is no one else but the teachers themselves.

The role played by teachers in the movement for system change cannot be forgotten. But order and government are different mechanisms. The need of the moment is to play a role in educational upliftment while being honest to one's professional responsibilities. That is why the law prohibits school teachers and staff from being party members. Clause (g) of Section 16E (5) of the Education Act states that 'teachers or employees found to be members of the executive committee of a political party' will be removed from the post. Section 14 (c) of the Political Parties Act, 2073 also provides that incumbent teachers or employees cannot be members of the party. According to these legal provisions, a week ago, Education Minister Sumana Shrestha decided to take action against teachers affiliated to political parties. Based on that decision, the Education and Human Resource Development Center of the Ministry has written a letter to the Education Development and Coordination Unit of all districts on Sunday to remove such teachers from their posts. Reminders have also been sent to all local levels for necessary support and facilitation in the action. Similarly, it has been requested to file complaints about teachers who are active in political parties. In the meantime, the process of taking action against 12 teachers has also been initiated.

A teacher's responsibility is to provide quality education and show children the way to the future. They should focus on regular teaching responsibilities in school. Teachers are the leaders of the society so they should be politically aware. Believing in political parties is not the same. But becoming a party worker is disobedience to the law. If the membership of the party is to be continued, there is an option to resign as a teacher. However, if you want to remain in the teaching service, you should give up your party affiliation immediately.