Students close down all schools, colleges bearing ‘English names’

Students and sisters wings of various 17 political parties have enforced a shut down of all the higher secondary schools (plus 2) and colleges whose names hav resemblance to “English names” on Sunday.

The students and sister wings affiliated to 17 parties in the opposition including UML aligned Youth Association Nepal and Nepali Congress aligned Nepal Students Union ( NSU) announced the nationwide closure of all academic institutions being run with foreign or English names.

They warned of intensifying the protests if their demands of removal of those college names which have resemblance to English names, maintaining educational quality and guarantee of scholarship are not met.

The leaders of the students and sister wings closed down the colleges bearing foreign names across the country saying that they undermine the nationality as well as rich and unique culture and tradition of the country.

Although the strike was called targeting only the colleges bearing foreign names, it still has affected tens of thousands of students in more than 600 private higher secondary schools across the country. It is learnt that more than 90 percent private higher secondary schools and colleges across the country have names which have resemblance to English or foreign names.

Earlier, students affiliated to CPN-Maoist aligned All Nepal National Independent Students´ Union (Revolutionary) had shut down private Higher Secondary Schools across the country and even carried out vandalism at various colleges in the capital in a bid to exert pressure for removing their foreign names.

It must be noted that the government has already directed all colleges (whose name bear resemblance to English names) to remove their English or foreign names within six months.

Some of the private higher secondary schools and college have English and American sounding names like Texas International College, Florida College, Oscar International, Aberdeen, NASA, and Pentagon.

Meanwhile, the sister and youth wings have also closed all the academic institutions under the Council of Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) today, demanding that CTEVTstop raising arbitrary fees and dispatch question papers for examination outside the Valley before time. Nepalnews.com