Chairman of Socialist Student Union Netra Chapagain reaches Maitighar in Kathmandu at 10 am every day and stands there on the roadside until 5 pm. Then he returns home. He has been following this routine for the last 11 days.

He has been staging a protest standing at Maitighar square, just outside Singhadurbar, for eight hours a day demanding reform in the Early Childhood Development (ECD) programme. He has demanded that the money for the children's midday meal should be increased and their teachers should be given the minimum salary set by the government. He has also asked for maintaining uniformity between the ECD classes in community and private schools and designate teachers' quota for the programme.

However, the government hasn’t addressed his demands even after he has already stood for over 88 hours so far.

“My legs have started swelling and I often feel nausea and headache due to heat as I stand on the roadside,” Chapagain told the Post. “But the government has not heeded my demand so I am thinking about standing round the clock.”

He submitted a letter to Minister for Education Sumana Shrestha before he began his protest. Shrestha went to Maitighar to meet him. But his demands were not addressed. He again wrote another letter to the minister on Friday.

Then, she invited him for talks at the ministry. As he went to the ministry, he stood continuously even while he held talks with the minister.

Chapagain’s team is not optimistic even after Friday’s talks as the minister didn't make any commitment towards addressing their demands.

The minister has said she would gradually address the issues raised by Chapagain. “We will address the issues through the education bill which is under discussion in Parliament and the upcoming annual budget of the government,” she wrote on social media on Saturday.

Chapagain, however, has announced he will not stop his protest until his demands are addressed.

Spokesperson of the ministry, Keshav Dahal, however, said that he was not even officially informed about his protest.

General Secretary of the Socialist Student Union Tanka Dhamala has accused the minister of trying to derail Chapagain’s movement by inviting for the talks.

“She is not quite positive towards his demands even as ECD teachers are compelled to teach just for Rs8,000 a month,” Dhamala said. “The minister is not even ready to implement at least the minimum wage fixed by the government for them.”

The government provides only Rs8,000 for ECD teachers. While some local administrations provide additional amounts, many of them get only that amount.

“The government provides only Rs15 for midday meals for the children enrolled in the ECD programmes. This should be increased to at least Rs50,” he added.

Meanwhile, Minister Shrestha has argued that increasing the amount by three times at once wasn’t possible due to the country’s financial situation. She said that the government was in favour of giving priority for the children from the most underprivileged parts of the country based on the human development report.

Around 800,000 children are estimated to have been enrolled in over 35,000 pre-primary schools across the country and 28,000 ECD teachers are working in as many community schools.