06-15-2006, 09:11 PM
4. Nepal's Maoists Order Schools to Stop Teaching Sanskrit
Source
KATHMANDU, NEPAL, April 14, 2005: Nepal's elite private schools said yesterday Maoist rebels have told them to shut down in 24 hours unless they cut fees and meet other demands, but the schools have vowed to defy the order. A group representing Nepal's private schools said the rebels demanded the institutions close on Thursday unless they lower admission and tuition costs, scrap singing of the national anthem, stop teaching Sanskrit and remove photographs of King Gyanendra. The demands are part of a drive by the Maoists to install their own "people's education" system in schools and coincides with the start of the new academic year in Nepal.
The Maoist warning is the latest challenge to the authority of King Gyanendra, who seized power February 1, saying the move was necessary to tackle the insurgency. "We've been receiving warnings from the students' union by letter, e-mails and phone to close from Thursday for failing to meet their demands," Umesh Shrestha, head of the Private and Boarding School Organisations-Nepal, said. "But we're not going to comply with the demand to shut." The outlawed All Nepal National Free Student Union-Revolutionary is the student wing of the Maoists who have been fighting since 1996 to set up a communist republic. The conflict has claimed more than 11,000 lives in the Hindu kingdom of 27 million.
The students' union also wants children of top government officials excluded from private schools and forced to go state schools. There was no immediate comment available from the students' union but last month it said that it would "retaliate" against private schools if they failed to heed its demands. It did not say how, but in the past, rebels have bombed private schools after students have gone home as well as wrecked classrooms and equipment. <b>The rebel order to private schools to close came as Nepal began returning to normal after an 11-day nationwide road blockade called by the Maoists to protest the king's power grab. About 1.5 million students study in Nepal's 8,500 private and boarding schools. The 4.9 million students studying in Nepal's 25,000 public schools were not affected by the Maoists' demand to close. </b>
Source
KATHMANDU, NEPAL, April 14, 2005: Nepal's elite private schools said yesterday Maoist rebels have told them to shut down in 24 hours unless they cut fees and meet other demands, but the schools have vowed to defy the order. A group representing Nepal's private schools said the rebels demanded the institutions close on Thursday unless they lower admission and tuition costs, scrap singing of the national anthem, stop teaching Sanskrit and remove photographs of King Gyanendra. The demands are part of a drive by the Maoists to install their own "people's education" system in schools and coincides with the start of the new academic year in Nepal.
The Maoist warning is the latest challenge to the authority of King Gyanendra, who seized power February 1, saying the move was necessary to tackle the insurgency. "We've been receiving warnings from the students' union by letter, e-mails and phone to close from Thursday for failing to meet their demands," Umesh Shrestha, head of the Private and Boarding School Organisations-Nepal, said. "But we're not going to comply with the demand to shut." The outlawed All Nepal National Free Student Union-Revolutionary is the student wing of the Maoists who have been fighting since 1996 to set up a communist republic. The conflict has claimed more than 11,000 lives in the Hindu kingdom of 27 million.
The students' union also wants children of top government officials excluded from private schools and forced to go state schools. There was no immediate comment available from the students' union but last month it said that it would "retaliate" against private schools if they failed to heed its demands. It did not say how, but in the past, rebels have bombed private schools after students have gone home as well as wrecked classrooms and equipment. <b>The rebel order to private schools to close came as Nepal began returning to normal after an 11-day nationwide road blockade called by the Maoists to protest the king's power grab. About 1.5 million students study in Nepal's 8,500 private and boarding schools. The 4.9 million students studying in Nepal's 25,000 public schools were not affected by the Maoists' demand to close. </b>