Classes at Manipal Medical College have not taken place for the past two and half months due to a dispute between the management and the teaching staff.

About 300 MBBS students have been affected as the professors and other teaching staff at the college are in protest, demanding raise and other facilities.

The students who are in the third and fourth year of study are at risk of missing out an entire semester because of the ongoing row. 

“We haven’t had any classes since August 23. It is the students who are bearing the burnt of this dispute between the college management and teachers,” a student said.

According to the academic calendar of Kathmandu University, the exams of seventh and ninth semesters are scheduled for February and March next year. 

It is still not clear when the classes will resume. There has not been any talks between the agitating teachers and the college management.

“The two sides are blaming one another. The main thing at stake here is our future but they are not at all concerned,” said another student.

Of the 150 teachers, 55 are actively involved in the ongoing protest and they are barring other teachers from running the classes.

Dr Dipak Koirala, one of the protesting teachers, said the college administration should take the initiative to resolve the dispute.

“We are ready to sit for talks but the administration is reluctant to resolve the issue,” he claimed. The demands pressed by the agitating teachers include salary hike, extra payment for teaching during public holidays, and permanent faculty positions for tenured teachers. 

BM Nagpal, dean of the college, said the classes were not taking place because of the teachers’ protest and not the college administration.