NEPAL: MAOIST STUDENT UNION SUSPENDS STRIKE

UNCLAS KATHMANDU 002456

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR SA/INS
LONDON FOR POL - RIEDEL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER PGOV NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: MAOIST STUDENT UNION SUSPENDS STRIKE

REF: KATHMANDU 2346


1. (U) On December 22 the Maoist-affiliated All Nepal
National Independent Students Union - Revolutionary
(ANNISU-R) ended its strike against private schools in the
Kathmandu Valley after the schools' directors agreed to cut
tuition up to 25 percent. The strike, which began on
December 9, had forced the closure of 2,000 private and
boarding schools across the Valley for two weeks, affecting
500,000 students. Lincoln International School, which is
attended by most Mission dependent children, continued to
hold classes at alternate locations, including private homes,
from December 9-19, when the winter break began. Other
private schools in Kathmandu not already on winter break
opened December 23 for the first time in two weeks.


2. (SBU) The ANNISU-R announcement cautioned that the
student union will reinstitute the strike the second week of
February if the rest of its demands are not met. Rajesh
Khadka, President of the Private and Boarding School
Organization of Nepal (PABSON),told the Embassy that his
organization had done its part to avert continuation of the
strike by lowering tuition, suspending the assessment of
miscellaneous additional fees, and pledging to hire more
Nepali teachers. The rest of the demands made by ANNISU-R,
including that the Government of Nepal (GON) lift its
official designation of the student wing as a terrorist
organization, is up to the GON, he observed. Therefore no
one should blame PABSON if the strike resumes in February, he
declared. Other demands include that the GON disclose the
whereabouts of student leaders in detention, and provide free
education up to secondary school.


3. (SBU) Nepal's public education system is so bad that
even very poor Nepalis try to enroll their children in
private school. The GON has not yet officially responded to
the ANNISU-R's suspension of its strike, but recent comments
from GON leaders make it appear unlikely that they will agree
to lift the terrorist designation given the student group.
The student union probably came under considerable pressure
from members of "civil society"--including, quite possibly,
some with links to the Maoists--for holding the educational
system hostage to their demands. The reduction in school
fees allows the ANNISU-R to claim a moral victory that may
resonate with the many low-income Nepalis struggling to keep
their children in private school. To counter this, the GON
will have to make good-faith efforts--and make them fast--to
improve the public school system.
MALINOWSKI