BMD

A teacher, who is one of my friends, has lately been nominated as a general convention representative of a national-level political party. He now feels so proud of having this role that his happiness knows no bounds. He frequently posts this information along with the photos taken with some of the influential leaders belonging to his party on social media. Many of his friends, relatives and office and party colleagues are congratulating him on his 'remarkable feat.'

Like him, there may be thousands of other civil servants, teachers and others working for public enterprises who have been actively involved in activities of one political party or the other. Many others who receive salaries, perks and allowances from the state coffer have also been associated with trade unions serving just like sister wings of political parties. With the main opposition CPN-UML now holding its general convention in Chitwan and the two ruling parties-- Nepali Congress and CPN-Maoist Centre — going to organise their general conventions soon, a large number of bureaucrats and teachers have been nominated as representatives.

As they are fully dedicated to the party activities, they hardly have time and zeal to carry out their professional duties in offices and educational institutions in an honest manner. Because of such 'politically motivated' persons, the beneficiaries are naturally deprived of services. This tendency is also contributing to misusing the taxpayers' money. But there are no any responsible authorities who can hold such individuals accountable to their jobs.

However, the Political Party Act, 2017 prevents university teachers, school teachers and bureaucrats working under the federal, provincial and local governments from acquiring membership of any political party. But things seem otherwise. To regulate the employees, the Act needs to be enforced in letter and spirit.
But the political parties themselves do not seem to be ready to stop civil servants and teachers from being involved in politics directly. Just to win the elections, the parties have tried their best to attract everyone to them. As there is a tougher competition among the parties, they always attempt to organise as many individuals as possible and issue membership to them. Parties are seen mobilising employees and teachers during the elections.

As their jobs are sinecure, even school teachers seem to be working as full-time party activists. Consequently, most public schools have failed to provide quality education to children even when the state has been investing much money in the education sector. And it is the private schools that have stood to benefit as they have been able to lure more students. Similar is the condition of many state-run colleges and universities. As politics has dominated these reputed institutions, they have continued to lose their charms.

Amidst such a scenario, the Election Commission of Nepal has shown its serious concern over the over the increasing involvement of the civil servants and teachers in political activities. The constitutional body has also urged the relevant political parties to cancel the membership of such persons. To maintain sanctity of the bureaucracy and educational institutions, the parties must stop inducting government employees in their committees. Otherwise, every sector is sure to get polluted further sooner or later. Some kind of demarcation between politicians and civil servants and teachers should be in place.