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KATHMANDU, April 15: Some private schools in Nepal closed on Friday after a Maoist student union demanded they shut down indefinitely or risk attack. The latest threat comes after an 11-day nationwide strike sponsored by the Maoists to protest against King Gyanendra’s move to fire the government and seize power. The strike, which ended on Monday, crippled businesses and transport.
The All Nepal National Free Students’ Union (Revolutionary) told private schools in the Himalayan kingdom to close or else. There are about 1.5 million students in 8,500 private schools.
The rebels have been waging a nine-year insurgency to topple the monarchy and create a communist republic.
In Butwal, a business centre 300 km west of Kathmandu, educators said schools did not open on Friday because of rebel threats to bomb classrooms.
“There is no security. We can’t take the risk,” said Raju Gurung, principal of the Siddhi Childrens’ school, from Butwal, an area where the Maoists have a strong presence.
But in the high-security Nepali capital Kathmandu, a group representing private schools said its members would ignore the threat.
Umesh Shrestha, head of the Private and Boarding Schools Association of Nepal, said Maoist students had sent emails to schools asking them to close.
“They are using children for political purposes,” he said.
Some schools in Kathmandu opened on Friday after vacations while others will open next week. State-run schools were open as usual.
REGULAR CLOSURES: In the past, Maoists have regularly sponsored school closures to demand lower tuition fees and nationalization of education, and set off bombs in schools when children were not present.
The guerrillas have targeted private schools, saying these attract children mainly from affluent families, including bureaucrats, whom they accuse of exploiting Nepal’s poor.
In recent years, the conflict has meant schools in many parts of the country have opened for fewer than half of the 220 days required by law, authorities say.
The United Nations called on both sides to ensure that schools were not disrupted.
“All schools and school grounds should remain free of weapons and explosive devices and free of any political or military activity,” the UN said in a statement on Thursday.
“Children should not be taken for political indoctrination or recruitment, nor should they be harassed as suspected insurgents or placed in preventive detention,” it said.
The Maoists regularly kidnap children for indoctrination and recruitment.
The king seized full power on Feb 1, saying it was necessary to crush the Maoist insurgency, which has left more than 11,000 people dead since 1996.
He said he had to act because bickering politicians had failed to find a solution to the crisis. In the process, however, he has curbed civil liberties, imposed restrictions on the media and locked up many political figures.—Reuters
