Teachers across the country are preparing for a show of strength in Kathmandu next month. This is the second time in less than two years that the teachers are organising such a protest.

The Nepal Teachers' Federation, an elected body of the country's school teachers, is staging a series of protests to pressure the government and parties to endorse the School Education bill from the winter session. The CPN-UML-affiliated teachers’ association, however, will not be part of the agitation.

Before descending to Kathmandu for agitation, the teachers will first stage protests at the local and provincial levels while also continuing to lobby at the political and bureaucratic levels.

“It's already too late for the law,” said Laxmi Kishore Subedi, the federation's chair. “Without pressure, it might take even longer for the bill’s endorsement.”

The protests will commence on Sunday when they submit a memorandum to all local governments. On the same day, a protest mobilisation committee will be formed at the local level.

On February 11, interaction programmes will be conducted in every school among students, parents and the school management committees to inform them about the demands of teachers and staff and the necessity of the movement. According to the schedule, protest rallies will be held at the local level on February 12, wherein the teachers will wear black armbands and chant the slogan: ‘The School Education Act should be enacted from the winter session.’

The Parliament’s winter session, also called bill session, commenced on Friday.

Moreover, according to the protest programme, movement mobilisation committees will be formed in every district on February 8. The agitating teachers on February 14 plan to submit memorandums to the chiefs of the Education Development and Coordination Units in all 77 districts nationwide.

“A memorandum will be submitted to the chief ministers and social development ministers at the provincial level on February 21,” reads the protest plan, adding if the still remains unendorsed, the federation will start Kathmandu-centric protest on March 1.

Right after the government introduced the bill in the federal parliament in September 2023, the federation staged a Kathmandu-centric agitation objecting to different provisions in the bill. Thousands of teachers staged protests in Kathmandu, disrupting life in the capital city and forcing the government into a dialogue.

They withdrew the protest after sealing a six-point deal with the government which promised to address their demands by revising the bill.

The teachers are preparing for similar protests as the Education, Health and Information Technology Committee of the House of Representatives expedites deliberations on the bill. Currently, a subpanel within the House committee is holding provincial-level deliberations on the bill.

The subpanel has received mutually conflicting suggestions on several issues including teacher management. As the constitution lists school education as absolute authority of the local government, local units want school teachers to fall under their jurisdiction. However, teachers don’t want to stay under local authorities, claiming there are high chances that the local governments will treat them based on the political leanings of the local governments.

On different occasions, the federal government has reached an agreement with the teachers to keep them under the federal government.

Enactment of the Act is a must to implement the Constitution of Nepal which can delegate most of the authority to manage the education sector at the local and provincial levels. However, almost a decade after the constitution came into force, the country is yet to get the Act.

Following the threats from the teachers, Minister for Education Bidya Bhattarai has been reiterating that endorsement of the bill is her top priority. She has even announced to quit as the minister if that doesn't happen. The winter session will last for three months.