Examinations and elections

SLC examinations (equivalent to GCSE) started on Monday. I was surprised to find the gates to the ETC and Adarsha High School padlocked and guarded by police armed with lathis (big sticks) when I arrived at work. Eventually I persuaded them to let me through, promising that I would not disturb the examinations or smuggle in answers. The reason for the security became apparent when we read the newspaper report about an examination centre in the next town: “Police had to fire 17 rounds of ammunition to prevent parents throwing pieces of paper with answers written on them into the exam room. Parents pelted the police with stones, who had to resort to lathi charges to disperse the mob”. Grade 10 students are sent to examination centres (not their own school) to sit the exams, which last for 8 days. Question papers are in both Nepali and English, and private school students answer in English, while those from government schools write in Nepali. The papers are almost entirely factual recall from the grade 10 curriculum. Government school students are severely disadvantaged by the huge amount of time they have missed because of strike action this year.
We went early to Janapath on Wednesday to meet Buddhi for the science paper. He is justifiably proud of the way in which he organises the exams there. I was delighted to find I could remember enough to do well on the biology questions, if not the physics. ‘Good old-fashioned’ biology, including classification of a sea horse, of which, unsurprisingly none of the teachers except Buddhi had never heard. I was able to provide a drawing and impersonation.
Election momentum is gathering. Competing loud hailers go by all day, and flag waving crowds gather on street corners and outside temples. 25% of the candidates are teachers. 600 election observers from 14 different international organisations have arrived and are in evidence in white land cruisers. 90,000 national observers have been appointed. My colleagues have all had election training. Koirala, the 85 year old Prime Minister has stated that the current seven party alliance should continue to govern for the next 10 years; Deuba (Nepali Congress) has announced that he will be Prime Minister and Prachanda (Maoist leader) has declared that he will be President. An interesting take on democracy. Meanwhile in Kathmandu there are royalist plots hatching to reinstate the king, and dissident groups in the Terai are threatening further action to disrupt the polls.
On Thursday, a polling booth was set up on the school field, surrounded by flags on bamboo poles and information posters for a mock election. Thousands of people flocked in and were organised into orderly lines of men and women. It was far more lively than voting in England – and more complex, with two different ballot papers, one for proportional representation and one for first-past- the post. Several international UNMIN observers were there, plus a TV crew. A group was organised to create a disturbance, so the police could practice quelling it, which they did with great enthusiasm and much waving of lathis. We hope the real event will pass off as smoothly.
David’s production of teaching materials has been disrupted this week, as his tailor is too busy making election flags and banners. However, the prototype of the pocket chart is completed, and he has demonstrated it at the ETC. The photograph shows it in action with mero kitab - my book. He has made sets of Nepali and English alphabets and sets of numbers for mathematics teaching. We fear for the carpenter’s feet as he holds strips off wood between them while he saws off blocks, then files them smooth. We hope to use them at the ETC when primary teacher training starts again after the election.
At home, power cuts are increasing and we have been without water in the flat for nearly two weeks. There had been no water in the ETC since I arrived last May (one reason for never going to the toilet during the day), but it started flooding through the roof on Wednesday. Unfortunately this abundance did not spread to Tintolya where we live. . It is surprisingly easy to manage without, as long as we can fill buckets from the outside tap. Our neighbours, who rely on bore hole water, are amused by us carrying buckets indoors and washing our hair outside. We attract a large audience – including the beautiful new striped cow over the wall. We get daily phone calls from VSO about the security situation; for us security is two full buckets.
Friday and Saturday - Fagu Purnima (Holi), the Hindu festival of colour, celebrated by smearing heads and faces with luridly coloured powder, and flinging it about with water and ruining clothes. The children opposite are currently attacking our neighbours with giant waterpistols, while the children next door retaliate with full buckets. What a waste! They are calling to us ‘tapaaiharu uslaai khelna aaunus!’ (come and play with us!)
So, Kathmandu on Monday, and we will have to stay for ‘the duration’, however long that is. No-one knows how long it will take before election results are declared, and what repercussions there will be …….