Author: Keshab Poudel
Publication: OneWorld South Asia
Date: May 25, 2004
URL: http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/86706/1/
In a bid to control education in
Nepal, Maoist rebels are abducting hundreds of teachers from far-flung
rural areas to indoctrinate them, causing many terrorized educationists
to flee their posts.
Maoists reportedly abducted over
500 teachers from different parts of the country in recent weeks. Most
of them were later released after being imparted training in "People's
Education." The largest numbers of teachers were abducted from the districts
of Sarlahi and Rautahat -- 100 from each district -- located south of the
capital Kathmandu.
The Maoists, whose eight-year insurgency
has claimed over 8,000 lives, term the existing education system as "feudalistic,
reactionary and anti-people." They are demanding free education and syllabi
that "serve the interests of the workers, peasants and other oppressed
classes of society." They want new curricula for social studies and political
courses.
The rebels have introduced their
own school calendar that includes annual holidays like Martyrs Day and
Lenin's Day. They want to scrap existing public holidays like the king's
birthday, Constitution Day and the Hindu festival of Durga Puja.
The Maoists have declared bans on
subjects like Sanskrit, history and social studies in remote rural areas,
most of which they control. The national anthem and other patriotic songs
have also been forbidden, and the Maoists want these replaced with paeans
to their martyrs.
Abducted teachers are trained to
extol the virtues of the rebels, whose attacks over the past few years
have scared away the economy's onetime mainstay, tourists, and destroyed
infrastructure worth thousands of dollars.
Due to the intimidation, several
teachers in rural areas have fled from there, leaving the hapless students
rudderless.
The Nepal Teachers' Association
estimates that the Maoists have burnt 89 schools, 27 of them through bomb
blasts, and killed 274 children. Around 700 schools have been closed and
3,000 teachers displaced because of the guerrillas.
Association president Keshav Prasad
Bhattarai exclaims, "The Maoists have been maiming and brutally beating
teachers and ordinary people with stones and hammers in a flamboyant display
of medieval barbarism."
He points out that the condition
of schoolteachers is pitiable in Nepal because they are often subjected
to extortion, torture, kidnappings, forced participation in Maoist activities,
displacement and property seizure. "The Maoists are more interested in
disrupting the existing process than introducing alternative curriculum
or education systems," he charges.
But a Maoist leader in Rautahat
district, Bipin (single name only), claims, "We are taking teachers to
train them in the People's Education System that caters to oppressed people.
The existing system is reactionary and feudalistic."
Bhattarai charges that teachers
who attended the Maoist "training camps" were ordered to stop teaching
the existing curricula, and because of the threats, some schools are complying
with the insurgents' orders on certain subjects.
But the spokesperson for the ministry
of education and sports Lava Prasad Tripathi claims, "We don't have any
official report regarding what the teachers were taught (by the Maoists)
and where they were taken."
Since district education administrators
do not have access to schools in remote parts of the country, the intimidation
often goes unreported.
For instance, despite reports of
hundreds of teachers being abducted, chief education Officer at Sarlahi
district Dr Kamleshwor Prasad Singh maintains, "We have just received some
reports of abductions and subsequent releases. But, we are yet to meet
the teachers who were abducted by the Maoists."
Since the insurgency began in 1996,
Nepalese teachers have been caught between the guerrillas and the government.
According to the human rights group Informal Sector Service Center, over
160 Nepalese teachers have lost their lives in the conflict.
Human rights groups have also expressed
concern over the increasing abductions.
Lashes out the president of the
Human Rights Organization of Nepal, Sudip Pathak, "Such abductions and
extortions are deplorable violations of human rights. We have requested
the Maoists to stop these abhorrent practices."
But it seems unlikely that the rebels
will heed the voices of dissent.
In an instance of their bid to wrest
control from the government, in Panchthar district, 600 miles east of Kathmandu,
the Maoists ordered the school management committee to rename schools after
"Maoist martyrs." On May 21, Maoists abducted around 200 students and teachers
from Karnali Technical School in the remote district of Jumla for an indoctrination
session.
In Parbat district, 200 miles west
of Kathmandu, the Maoists expelled schoolteacher Pabitra Gurung from a
village school after she protested against attending a "People's Education"
session. Gurung fled to the district headquarters.
The insurgents are also targeting
district education administrators. Senior regional education official Damodar
Gauli and his wife were abducted from Dipayal, 550 miles west of Kathmandu,
last week. They have not yet been released.
President of the left-affiliated
Nepal Teachers' Organization Madhav Prasad Adhikary holds, "In remote parts
of Nepal, there is a reign of terror in the education sector. Teachers
are compelled to teach what the Maoists ask them to. Schools are being
used by the insurgents for political purposes. A large numbers of school
teachers and students are being recruited into the Maoist ranks."
