The Tribhuvan University has agreed to take action against its teachers who went abroad on study leave but never returned to work, flouting the university law, within two weeks.

University officials and student unions affiliated to five opposition parties reached an agreement to take action against the defiant teachers. Following the publication of a media report that said the opportunity to study abroad was being misused, TU had sought data from its different departments.

On December 8, the university’s Coordination Division had directed all of its constituent colleges, institutes and agencies concerned to report about such teachers.

Deepak Tiwari, the Division’s acting chief, said they have received records from 68 subordinate offices and are yet to receive them from 40 others. “We have given them this week to submit the report,” he said. “All the records will be ready by next week. The university will start action once the final record is available.”

Student leaders from five unions had been staging sit-in at the university’s central office presenting different demands including actions against such teachers. They withdrew their protest after a nine-point deal on Tuesday.

“The details of the service, benefits, and salary of the teachers who went abroad for study but never returned to work will be made public within two weeks, and action will be taken accordingly,” reads a point of the agreement. Dinesh Aiyer, chief of TU central campus chapter of the CPN (Maoist Centre)-affiliated All Nepal National Independent Union (Revolutionary), said the university administration has agreed to take action against the defiant teachers based on the existing law.

Tribhuvan University, Nepal’s oldest and largest, allows its teachers—mainly the lecturers and assistant professors—to study abroad for their capability enhancement. Any teacher who has taught for five years after permanent posting is eligible to get paid study leave for three to five years.

While lecturers themselves find the universities of their choice for the study, there are also the opportunities allocated for the teachers from the TU. Most of such study abroad opportunities the Nepali teachers get are scholarships, mainly for Mphil and PhD programmes.

The university’s ‘Teacher Staff Service Rules-1994’ has specific provisions about the eligibility for such opportunities. Its clause 30 states that teachers who have used their study leave for five years must return to work and serve for at least five years. One using three years of leave has to be in the classrooms for the same period after the completion of their study abroad.

The teachers seeking to get paid leave for study abroad must sign a bond with the coordination division in line with the TU staff rules. They also need to present a witness while signing the bond based on the service rules.

The rule’s clause 84 states that if a teacher doesn’t attend the office for 90 days, the university can sack them. However, there are minimal cases where such teachers have been sacked.

So much so that, in several cases, the teachers who have been staying abroad have been receiving the salary from the university. The university administration says they will fully implement the law once all the data of the defiant teachers is available.

Tuesday’s agreement also states that the university authority will also write to the government to make public the report of the commission to search the land and property of the TU and take steps towards its implementation. The report prepared by former secretary Sharada Prasad Trital shows at least 1,00 ropanis of land belonging to the varsity has been encroached, including by the Laboratory School, which is operated by Nepali Congress treasurer Umesh Shrestha. The school has occupied 108 ropanis of land belonging to the varsity.

Though the report was submitted to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on December 16, he has not made it public yet nor has he taken any steps towards its implementation. Similarly, another report regarding the encroachment of the land of Dang-based Nepal Sanskrit University has also been submitted to Oli. It also remains secret in the prime minister’s office.

“The reports have pointed at political hands in grabbing the lands of both the universities,” said an official at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. “It requires courage and commitment to implement it.”