Kathmandu Mayor Balendra Shah on Saturday warned of taking stern action against staffers of public schools in the metropolis if they close schools.

In a social media post, Shah warned that the administrative staffers or teachers will be sacked if they are absent and the school management committees will be dissolved if they disrupt classes or fail to act to hold regular classes.

Shah further warned the metropolis will coordinate with Nepal Police to arrest and file criminal charges against those involved in closing schools forcefully.

Kathmandu Metropolitan City directs all public schools in the metropolis, administrative staffers and teachers and school management committees to conduct regular classes in all schools within the metropolis, Balen said.

Schedule 8 of the constitution gives local governments explicit authority over basic and secondary education. Mayor Shah has warned of actions as per the Kathmandu Metropolis Education Act.

Nepal Public School Employees’ Council has threatened to close community schools across the country indefinitely from Sunday to press the government to address their demands.

The administrative staff at public schools across the country are in protest demanding better pay and perks. They have accused the government of cheating them as the national budget fails to address the agreements reached with them a few months back.

The government and the Nepal Public School Employees' Council had on February 2 reached an agreement where the former agreed to adjust their salaries on par with that of civil servants of corresponding levels. The government’s policies and programmes for the upcoming fiscal year had promised to address the demands. However, the finance minister didn’t allocate the budget as per the pledge.