All Nepal National Independent Students Union-Revolutionary (ANNISU-R) aligned to Netra Bikram Chand-led Maoist party today announced all Valley schools would close tomorrow. Narayan Nepal, Kathmandu Valley In-charge of ANNISU-R said they were going to shut down educational institutions, both community, and institutional schools tomorrow to exert pressure on the government to release their friends who are in police custody and to control all kinds of irregularities in the school sector.

Police had nabbed Prakash Adhikari, ANNISU-R Kathmandu district coordinator, and Bikash Adhikari, ANNISU-R Kathmandu district member from Jorpati on April 29 alleging that they had smeared soot on the face of Kathmandu District Education Officer Shankar Prasad Gautam on April 27. ANNISU-R cadres were scheduled to stage a peaceful protest at DEO-Kathmandu today demanding the release of their friends, but security personnel barred them from staging any kind of protest. He said, “Our friends, who are in police custody, are innocent and Prakash has stopped taking food from the day he was jailed due to which his health is deteriorating day by day, but police personnel is not paying any attention to this,” adding, “Thus, school closure is not our wish, but we have been forced to resort to it to put pressure on the government, which has been turning a deaf ear to our demand.” He said private schools are charging exorbitant fees under various titles in violation of the fundamental right to free education ensured by the constitution.