must not stick to power sharing issues onl CHATT CELEBRATIONS START Kathmandu, 16 Nov.: Four-day Chatt celebrations begin Saturday. The terai festival ends with the worship of the sun Nnnn DETAILS OF BHUTANESE REFUGEE CAMP FIRE Kathmandu, 17 Nov.:A fire broke out at a Bhutanese refugee camp in Sanischare, destroying 39 huts and property worth over Rs 3 million, The Kathmandu Post writes from Morang.. According to the Sanischare base of the Armed Police Force, 13 huts in sector D3 and one in sector D2 were reduced to ashes. The APF said that the fire broke out after the house of a refugee, Surja Bahadur Rai, caught fire from a butter lamp lit on Laxmi Puja day on Wednesday. “Some 200 Bhutanese were rendered homeless and property estimated at Rs 3.5 million destroyed. The losses may be greater since they are yet to be ascertained,” said Champa Singh Rai, secretary for the camp. Rai said the damage was heavy as many refugees had purchased goods for third country resettlement. Police, with the help of local people, pulled down 23 other huts in order to prevent further loss. The fire victims, who were taking shelter in a local school and nearby places, started returning to other vacant huts in the camp on Friday, the District Administration Office (DAO) said. It said that the victims, most of them preparing to go for resettlement in a Western country, were living in the huts used by those who have already left under the UN-brokered programme. The DAO provided Rs 2,000 to a family whose house was destroyed and Rs 1,500 to one whose hut was pulled down. “Consultations with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other donors concerning resettlement and additional relief are under way,” said assistant Chief District Officer Yogendra Dulal, who is also the deputy director of the Bhutanese Coordination Unit. Meanwhile, the refugees are worried as their documents necessary for resettlement were destroyed in the inferno. “The process for resettlement in the United States was at the last stage. However, all our documents have been burnt,” said Surja Kumar Rai. The camp management committee said that the issue will be taken to the UNHCR if the victims submit an application mentioning the details of burnt documents to the committee. nnnn LEGAL HURDLES BEING CLEARED FOR TEACHER RECRUITMENT Kathmandu, 17 Nov.: After an attempt to bring new Education Act through ordinance to open the door for the recruitment of schoolteachers failed, the government is working to amend the existing regulation for the same, The Kathmandu Post writes.. The government had forwarded the education bill to the President's Office for approval with a provision of recruiting teachers both through internal and open competition three months ago. However after the President's Office did not endorse it, the Ministry of Education (MoE) has asked the Ministry of Law (MoL) to suggest the best possible way to resolve the legal hurdles. According to Roj Nath Pandey, assistant spokesperson at the MoE, the government is planning to announce vacancies for around 20,000 schoolteachers. "We have asked the MoL for suggestion so that amendment in the existing regulation could be one way out to initiate the recruitment process," Pandey said. "The Teachers' Service Commission will announce new vacancies once the legal hurdles are addressed." The government has not announced vacancies for teachers since 1995, resulting in the shortage of around 40,000 permanent teachers for primary to secondary level schools across the country. The MoE, which has readied itself for the new recruitment as per an agreement forged with various teachers' unions eight months ago, has not been able to execute its plan due to legal hurdles. The government has agreed to give permanent status to all the temporary teachers recruited before 1992 through internal competition, announce fresh vacancies for rest of the posts and offer a golden handshake with an amount between Rs 100,000 to Rs 500,000 to those who do not want to go through the competition. The government is working to get rid of temporary teachers by 2014 and initiate recruitment process only in permanent quotas afterwards. The government data shows that around 24,000 temporary teachers are working in government-run schools across the country. nnnn