The Nepal Teachers’ Federation has threatened to launch a fresh protest if the School Education Bill is not endorsed within a week.

In March, chief whips of the ruling parties had pledged to pass the bill by June 29. However, it hasn’t been endorsed yet. A meeting of the Education, Health and Information Committee of the House of Representatives has been called for Sunday to discuss the bill and endorse it.

While the committee has agreed on most of the issues, there has been no agreement on the quotas for temporary teachers for appointment into permanent posts.

Following earlier discussions between the teachers’ federation and the House committee, the committee endorsed the provision of recruiting 60 percent of teachers through internal and 40 percent through open competition.

The federation’s leaders want to reduce the open competition quota to 25 percent. They have also been lobbying with political leaders to increase the internal competition quota to 75 percent.

In the previous committee meetings, the bill’s passage was stalled after the Nepali Congress raised objections on this very issue. Except for Congress Chief Whip Shyam Kumar Ghimire, lawmakers from other parties had agreed to the provision of selecting 60 percent of teachers through open competition and 40 percent through internal competition for community schools. Ghimire, however, insisted that more than 60 percent of currently working teachers should be given permanent status.

“We want 75 percent reservation for temporary teachers,” said Nanu Maya Parajuli, vice-chairperson of the federation. “Let’s see how the committee responds. We also want the bill to be endorsed.”

Ammar Bahadur Thapa, chairperson of the committee, said they wanted to follow the Chhabilal Bishwakarna-led subcommittee’s recommendation, according to which 60 percent seats would be filled through an internal committee and 40 percent through free competition.

“The subcommittee’s report will be honoured,” he said. “The committee is preparing to finalise the bill in Sunday’s meeting.”

The government had proposed that 50 percent of teachers be recruited through open competition and 50 percent through internal competition.

Education experts also argue that widening the scope of internal competition would exclude a large pool of aspiring teachers and have suggested narrowing it.

They have been cautioning lawmakers not to compromise in teacher selection, as recruiting teachers through competitive processes would improve student learning and ensure children’s right to be taught by qualified teachers.

Committee chair Thapa mentioned that the performance evaluation during teacher promotions will continue to carry 90 marks. But the teachers’ federation has been lobbying to reduce this weightage.

The committee meeting was called shortly after Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli returned from his visit to Spain on Friday. Meanwhile, Education Minister Raghuji Pant also met with Speaker of the House Devraj Ghimire on Thursday and Friday.

The bill, with 163 sections, had received 1,758 amendments from 161 lawmakers. It took one and a half months of rigorous discussions for the panel to reach a conclusion. However, the federation has said the revised version is more regressive than the original bill that was registered in Parliament in September 2023.

The parliamentary committee meeting, which was suddenly halted while the discussion on the School Education Bill was underway, has been rescheduled for Sunday.