Confronted by a lack of political will to reinforce children’s right to education, Nepal’s education leaders are joining Education International’s Global Response campaign to take collective action to turn the tide of privatisation.
Deeply concerned by the growing privatisation of education in Nepal, the country’s teacher unions are have committed to work together to tackle the challenge, which has continued to worsen since two major earthquakes in 2015 levelled thousands of schools, and forced untold thousands of students to continue their education in makeshift classrooms across the country.
Leaders of the Nepal National Teachers' Association (NNTA), the Nepal Teachers' Association (NTA) and the Sansthagat Vidyalaya Schickshak Union Nepal (ISTU) are focusing on addressing the lack of adequate funding allocated to public education, and the failure of non-state providers to comply with existing regulations, such as the Education Act.
The decision to pool together efforts and resources came during a recent Global Response planning meeting with Education International (EI)on the 4-5 March in Kathmandu.
The thee EI affiliates committed themselves to jointly lead a national campaign to strengthen the public education system and challenge the privatisation of education, putting pressure on the government to fulfil its obligation to provide free quality public education for all, and guarantee that all education providers of education follow minimum standards.Their joint action strategy also plans for them to advocate for a legislative framework needed to achieve UN Sustainable Development Goal 4.