Owing to the acute shortage of fuel since Thursday, the government has stopped the

distribution of petrol to private vehicles, including school buses, for the next three

days. This step was taken to ensure that the emergency services remained operational. As a result, many schools and colleges have been forced to close down.

The closure of schools for extended period is not new to Nepal. Political events have a way of affecting schools, even though the government endorsed the ‘Schools as Zone of Peace’ directive in 2011. This directive protects the right to education of the students by declaring all schools as zone of peace, implying that the schools should remain free from violence even during times of conflict and that their studies should continue unhindered despite protests and strikes. The directive had been accepted by most of the political parties.

Yet, even this year, schools across the country have been forced to remain closed for an extended period of time. First, the April earthquake forced the schools in the 14 most-affected districts to shut down for almost a month. And then the protests against the delineation of the boundaries fruther worsened the scenario. And for the last one month, more than 20,000 schools and colleges, mostly in the Tarai, have remained closed due to the ongoing protests against the constitution. The Department of Education and the National Human Rights Commission had urged the protesters to allow the schools to remain open. Frustrated, students themselves have organised rallies in various places like Dang, Saptari, Sunsari and Mahottari, against the forceful closure of their schools urging protesters to respect their right to education. In the Tarai, schools have remained shut for over 50 days now.

Such prolonged closure of schools must be a matter of concern to both the govenrment and the political parties as it directly affects the future of thousands of students. It is extremely disheartening to see young students being forced to protest instead of getting to exercise their fundamental right to education. The state and political parties, therefore, must respect their commitment to not disrupt their education.