Schools have been caught in the crossfire; have been used as barracks or shelter, as well as for political purposes. Their playgrounds have been dug with trenches. Both sides have left explosive devices near school premises, sometimes with fatal results to the children who have picked them up. Teachers have been threatened, attacked and killed. And children and teachers from school after school have been forcibly taken away for political indoctrination, some never to return.

We are now concerned about a new threat: the decision to locate 75 per cent of polling stations for the February 8 municipal elections in schools. It is a normal practice in many countries to use schools to house polling booths. And in schools in countries at peace, there may be more litter in the playground the next day, the desks and furniture may need to be rearranged, but the school goes back to being a school.

In Nepal, both the seven-party alliance and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) have said they will disrupt the municipal elections. If the electoral process takes place in schools, this leaves schools vulnerable to the threat of violence or damage. If schools become a place where the conflict is fought out, then they are no longer safe as places of education.

Even if the school itself is not damaged but there is violence on the premises, the school can become a very stressful place for children afterwards. Already in many areas, children and their parents are scared about going school.

In order to function as effective places for education, schools need to be safe, left free from the conflict and not politicised. The UN System asks all Nepalis to remember the needs and rights of children and to keep schools out of conflict.