DALAI

SECURITY ENHANCED AROUND CHINESE EMBASSY AND TIBETAN RFUGEE CENTER ON DALAI LAMA’S BIRTHDAY

Kathmandu, 6 July: Security has been enhances around the Chinese embassy nad an extension in Nagpokhari Saturday.

Additional security personnel have veen deployed around Baudha, Syambhumath and Tibetan Refugee center.

Security was enhanced to prevent anti-China activities during observance of the 78^th birthday celebrations of exiled Dalai Lama in India.

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	BHATTARAI PROPOSAL FOR POWER SHARING Kathmandu, 6 July: Senior UCPN (Maoist) leader Baburam Bhattarai, who resigned as the party vice chairman recently, has proposed giving full shape to the crucial bodies of the party by electing 50 percent members and nominating the remaining 50 percent, Kiran Pun writes in Republica,. Speaking to a selected group of media persons at his residence in Sanepa on Friday, he also claimed that such an arrangement would help resolve the dispute over power-sharing in the party. After failing to elect office bearers and give full shape to central committee, standing committee and politburo, the UCPN (Maoist) had called a party plenum on July 19 in the capital. The names proposed by Dahal for various positions of the party were rejected by the CC members. Bhattarai´s resignation diffused the dispute over power-sharing. The party then called a plenum to seek a solution to the dispute. “In my view, the party should adopt the system of electing 50 percent members and nominating the remaining 50 percent,” added Bhattarai. He also said that the party should form a separate body for “retirees” so that they continue to remain active within the party. He also said that Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal would quit as the executive of the party. “We have reached a theoretical agreement to take a leave from the executive posts of the party. Chairman Dahal will also quit as the top executive anytime soon,” said Bhattarai, adding that the first generation leaders would provide ideological guidance while the young generation would take up the mantle of party leadership. “We will provide ideological leadership to the party,” added Bhattarai. He said other senior leaders would also quit their positions to make way for the young generation leaders. “The party should develop a mechanism through which senior leaders, who do not want to hold executive posts, can still play an active role in the party,” said Bhattarai. “I will remain active in the party in a new way.”

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FLOOD HIT CHILDREN WORK TO SURVIVE IN KARNALI

Kathmandu, 6 July:: Displaced by the flood in the Karnali River three weeks back, Sangeeta Tharu, a child from a village in Kailali district, is now forced to eke out a living as a laborer, Dil Bahadur Chhantyal writes in Republica from Kailali. .

While the lucky ones prepare for their first terminal examination, Sangeeta, who used to be a sixth grader at Karnali Higher Secondary School (KHSC) at Narayanpur of the district, could be seen toiling day in and day out at Daulat Ghat area along the banks of the same river, which swept away her home--along with her dream to puruse education.

"After the flood, I neither have the textbooks, nor a proper dress to put on. Moreover, in such a wretched condition, there is no prospect of going to school," she says.
And she is not the only children whose life was turned upside down overnight in the wake of Mother nature´s fury last month.
Anuradha Odh, a sixth grader at Tribhuvan Rastriya Secondary School, shares her cruel twist of fate.
During the school time now, her tender hands, which should have been flipping the pages of the textbooks, carry loads of sand --sometimes as heavy as 40 kilograms-- to support her family.

"I really want to go to school. But how I could I when my family is finding hard to maintain our day-to-day life," says Anuradha.
Over 200 children of the displaced families in the district are now facing similar hardship.
The flood had displaced many families residing in several Village Development Committees, including Sahajpur, Narayanpur and Dansinhapur.
After the flooding caused a massive damage to property and farmland in the district, these children´s dream to pursue education hangs in the balance.
"All my classmates are busy preparating for the first terminal examination. But I have to work from dawn to dusk to make ends meet," says Anuradha. She said she had not seen a textbook ever since the flooding.

Most of the schools will hold their first terminal examination from the mid-July.
"I fear I would not be able to go to school now. But I really want to continue my study," says Prasansha Khadka, a ninth grader at KHSC.
Some children faces harsher fate. While many of these children stay along with their families, some are even forced to migrate as far as different parts of India to make ends meet.

"My son, who was studying in grade 11, has gone to India to look for a job after we lost everything to the flood," says Dipa Sunwar, who is working as a labor at Daulatpur Ghat along with other displaced locals.

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DIFFICULTIES IN STARTING NEW CLASSES

Kathmandu, 6 July: Due to internal dispute between the Department of Education and Higher Secondary Education Board, the new higher secondary schools are likely to miss their opportunity to begin their classes from this academic session as they lack the affiliation from the concerned authority, The Himalayan Times reports. .

Responding to HSEB’s call for applications in January, as many as 200 schools, both community and institutional, had applied for affiliation, but they are yet to get HSEB’s approval while some schools have already started their classes.

As per HSEB’s notice, it was enough if the schools got recommendation from their respective District Education Committee under the local development officer and submitted the documents to HSEB. But, since the recommendation of DoE was mandatory, the files were sent to the DoE for further recommendation. Meanwhile, stating that the DEC’s recommendation was doubtful, DoE directed the Regional Education Directorate to monitor the applicants’ infrastructure, educational status by mid-June but the RED is yet to submit the report to DoE.

As per the rules, on the basis of the report prepared by RED, DoE would recommend the names of higher secondary schools for affiliation to HSEB.

Devi Prasad Barakoti, chief, Affiliation Division, HSEB, said, “It takes almost one month to monitor the higher secondary schools recommended by DoE. If we continued the process in such a way, these new schools would not be able to admit students and run classes this year.”

Earlier, DoE had floated a proposal to jointly monitor the higher secondary schools that have applied for affiliation to make the monitoring process fast and effective but HSEB had rejected the proposal saying that it was not practical. Laba Dev Awasthi, Director General, DoE said they had proposed joint monitoring of the new higher secondary schools to make it more effective and fast. He said, “Our main objective behind monitoring is to give affiliation to capable Higher secondary schools only,” adding, “If any HSS is not capable of conducting classes, it’s better to grant affiliation next year when it fulfils all the criteria.”

The two bodies are not on good terms as in the past, HSEB had disqualified some higher secondary schools recommended by DoE.

Bafal-based Gyanodaya Secondary School Principal Dhananjaya Sharma said, “We have the infrastructure and quality education too and the students who passed SLC from our school are waiting to get themselves enrolled in Grade XI but due to the delay in affiliation process, we could lose those students.” Till date, a total of 3,596 higher secondary schools, both institutional and community, have got affiliation from HSEB. Out of the total, 2,648 higher secondary schools were community schools.

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