BRAVE MAG

By Gopal Sharma and Saurabh Sharma

KATHMANDU, Feb 26 (Reuters) - At a training centre in Nepal's capital Kathmandu, Rahul Pariyar carefully hooks his harness to a rope, learning the basic skills he will need for painting walls, cleaning high rises and other construction work in the United Arab Emirates.

"I am not happy to leave my family back ‌and go for work in a foreign country. But what to do?" said the 21-year-old in a yellow hard hat, explaining how wages in Dubai are about four times that ‌of Nepal.

The Himalayan nation, perched between China and India, will go to the polls on March 5, an election triggered by historic youth-led protests fuelled by the lack of jobs and endemic corruption that forced an elected prime minister to ​resign.

But Pariyar said: "I am not interested in the upcoming elections. It does not pay my wages."

Nepal's youth unemployment rate of 20.6% is the highest among all of South and Southeast Asian nations, according to World Bank data, underscoring the failure of successive governments to solve a jobs crisis.

At least three million of Nepal's 30 million people - many of them part of the generation that revolted last September - currently work overseas, mainly in the Middle East, according to industry officials.

Around 1,500 young Nepalis leave the country every day for foreign employment, according to data from the Rastriya Shramik Mahasangh Nepal (RSMN), a national federation of labour unions.

"Over the ‌past six months the number of people going for work abroad has ⁠increased," said Mahesh Raj Dahal of Motherland Overseas, the recruitment agency where Pariyar is training.

"This is because of the political instability, lack of jobs in Nepal and low wages for workers."

The exodus has left many villages in Nepal's hinterland without most of their working-age men and women, with mainly children and the ⁠elderly remaining.

PARTIES VOW OVER A MILLION JOBS

On the campaign, Nepal's biggest political parties are vowing to fix the outflow of workers that began when the country liberalised its economy in 1991 and private recruitment agencies set up shop.

The exodus accelerated as a Maoist insurgency took hold of the countryside in following years.

Widely seen as the frontrunner riding on the popularity of its prime ministerial candidate Balendra Shah, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has promised to ​create ​1.2 million jobs to reduce forced migration.

The Nepali Congress, the country's oldest political party, has said it will ​generate 1.5 million jobs and slash the outflow of workers by half in ‌the next five years.

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But there is widespread scepticism they can deliver. Many youth blame Nepal's political parties - some of whom have stoked decades of instability through a merry-go-round of coalitions and elections - for the lack of development and the lack of jobs.

"Nepal was always an agricultural economy, and it directly shifted to the service sector. The politicians here bypassed the manufacturing sector, which created this crisis of jobs," said economist Keshav Acharya, who previously worked at Nepal's central bank.

"They come and make promises, but they hardly act on it."

A range of structural challenges, including policy volatility, inadequate infrastructure, weak governance and skills shortages, have stymied Nepal's industrial sector.

"The manufacturing sector, historically an engine of growth in other developing countries, has been on a constant decline," the World Bank said in a report last year.

"Increasing remittances ‌have also not translated into significant job creation or higher productivity in key sectors."

In the fiscal year ending July ​15, 2024, Nepal's foreign workers sent 1.44 trillion rupees ($9.93 billion) in remittances, according to central bank data, up 16.5% ​from the previous year and equalling nearly 25% of Nepal's GDP.

INADEQUATE WAGES

Although Nepal's services sector ​accounts for more than half of its $42 billion economy, agriculture still provides more than 60% of jobs in the country, where around a fifth of the ‌population earns less than $2 a day.

"Even where people are counted as employed, a ​bigger problem is under-employment - wages that are not enough ​to sustain a decent living," said Astha Bhatta of Kathmandu's Institute for Integrated Development Studies.

"That gap between effort and earnings is a major reason why many people try to leave the country."

At Nepal's main international airport in Kathmandu, Ramesh Bahadur B.K. Nimaile was preparing to walk into the departure terminal for a job in Romania.

The eldest of six siblings, 31-year-old Nimaile ​said he is the family's sole breadwinner and previously worked in ‌Dubai for two years as a labourer before returning home due to poor working conditions.

"Will this election give me a job? No, right? Inflation is soaring, everything is expensive," ​he said.

"I carry a family debt of over 2.5 million rupees ($17,200). What option do I really have except to migrate for work?"

($1 = 145.2200 Nepalese rupees)

(Reporting by Gopal ​Sharma and Saurabh Sharma; Additional reporting by Sahana Bajracharya; Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Los Angeles schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, who has developed a reputation for improving academics and graduation rates while leading two major U.S. districts, had his home searched Wednesday by the FBI as part of a federal investigation.

Los Angeles Schools-Federal Raid

Agents servedsearch warrants at the homeas well as the headquarters of the Los Angeles Unified School District and a location near Miami, where Carvalho was superintendent previously.

Authorities have not given details on what they are investigating.

Here's what to know about Carvalho:

A challenging start in the country

Carvalho has described his background in numerous news conferences and interviews over the years.

He was born in Portugal and spent his childhood living in poverty. He came to the U.S. more than four decades ago at age 17 and did not have legal status for a time.

Carvalho lived in New York City and then Miami. His first job in the U.S. was as a dishwasher, and he later worked as a day laborer.

After graduating with a biology degree in 1990 from Barry University, a small Catholic school near Miami, he taught science in Miami-Dade County.

"My world changed when I became a teacher," Carvalho said in 2021. "I still feel this journey is a fairytale."

He quickly moved up the administrative ranks in Miami, becoming a principal, district spokesperson, assistant superintendent and finally superintendent in 2008.

Many awards and accolades

During his 14-year tenure leading Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Carvalho was recognized for improving graduation rates and academic performance, especially among Black and Hispanic students.

In 2014 he was named Superintendent of the Year by the national superintendents association, and in 2021 he was knighted by Spain for his work expanding Spanish-language school programs.

That same year the Los Angeles Board of Educationunanimously voted to make him superintendent, at a time when the district was both flush with funding from state and federal COVID-19 relief and also struggling with the impacts of the pandemic, including learning losses and declining enrollment.

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Over the past five years, Carvalho has been lauded for the district's improvements in academic performance.

A Trump immigration policy critic

Carvalho has regularly opposed the administration'saggressive crackdownin and aroundLos Angeles, referencing his own history as an immigrant living in the U.S. illegally.

The district, the nation's second-largest, is made up of about 500,000 students, around 30,000 of them immigrants and some of them also without legal status.

Just before students returned to school last August, he urged immigration authorities not to conduct enforcement activity within a two-block radius of schools.

"We are appealing to the better senses of those who have the power to eliminate trauma from the streets of our community," Carvalho said.

He announced several measures meant to protect students and families, including changing bus routes to accommodate more students. The district also said it would distribute family preparedness packets that include know-your-rights information, emergency contact updates and tips on designating a backup caregiver in case aparent is detained.

Some scrutiny and criticism over the years

Back in Florida, Carvalho faced questions in 2020 after a nonprofit he founded solicited a $1.57 million donation from an online education company the district planned to use but later dropped.

The district's inspector general concluded that the donation did not violate state or district ethics policies but said it created an "appearance of impropriety" and should be returned. The money went instead to Miami-Dade teachers in the form of$100 gift cards.

Years before that Carvalho came under criticism for exchanging explicit emails with a former Miami Herald reporter. He denied having an affair but conceded that the exchanges were inappropriate.

In 2024, in Los Angeles, he touted the development of an AI chatbot named "Ed" for district students by the AI company AllHere. Three months after unveiling the technology and paying the company $3 million, the district dropped its dealings with AllHere as it collapsed.

Carvalho denied personal involvement in the selection of AllHere, according to the Los Angeles Times. After its founder was charged with securities and wire fraud and identity theft, he said he would appoint a task force to examine what went wrong with the project. There have been no announcements of a task force being appointed.

Associated Press writers Bianca Vázquez Toness and Christopher Weber contributed.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The FBI served search warrants Wednesday at the Los Angeles Unified School District's headquarters and the home ofits leader,a former Superintendent of the Year who was knighted by Spain for his work.

Federal officials would not give details of the nature of the investigation involving the nation's second-largest school district and Superintendent Alberto Carvalho's home. The district said in a statement that it "is cooperating with the investigation and we do not have further information at this time." The FBI also searched a third location near Miami, where Carvalho previously led the public schools.

TV news footage showed agents in FBI shirts and jackets outside Carvalho's home in the San Pedro neighborhood about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of downtown LA.

Rukelt Dalberis, a spokesperson for the FBI's Los Angeles field office, confirmed that agents were at the properties to serve warrants but declined to comment further because affidavits laying out details for the basis for the searches were under seal.

Over the past five years in Los Angeles, Carvalho has been lauded for the district's improvements to academic performance. He won similar praise while overseeing Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Florida's largest school district, where the national superintendents association named him Superintendent of the Year in 2014.

But both districts also drew scrutiny under his watch.

In 2024, Carvalho heavily touted an education technology company that developed an AI chatbot named "Ed" for the Los Angeles district to help students, calling it "a game changer." But less than three months after unveiling the technology and paying the company $3 million, the district dropped its dealings with AllHere, which collapsed into bankruptcy. Months later, founder, Joanna Smith-Griffin, was charged with securities and wire fraud, along with identity theft.

Carvalho denied personal involvement in the selection of AllHere, according to the Los Angeles Times. After Smith-Griffin was indicted, Carvalho said he would appoint a task force to examine what went wrong with the LAUSD project. There have been no announcements of any task force being appointed.

During his tenure in Florida, Carvalho also drew scrutiny in 2020 after a nonprofit he founded solicited a $1.57 million donation from an online education company the district was planning to use but later dropped. The district's inspector general determined the donation didn't violate state or district ethics policies but did create the "appearance of impropriety" and should be returned. The nonprofit instead distributed the donation to Miami-Dade teachers in$100 gift cards.

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Spain knighted the Portugal-born administrator in 2021 for his work in expanding Spanish-language programs for Miami-Dade County schools.

Months later, Carvalho took the job in California and became a harsh critic of the Trump administration's aggressive immigration crackdown, especially followingraids in Los Angeles last year. When its 500,000 students returned to classes in the fall, Carvalho urged immigration authorities not to conduct enforcement activity within a two-block radius of schools.

"I would be the biggest hypocrite in the world, regardless of my position today, if today I did not fight for those who find themselves in the same predicament I faced over 40 years ago when I arrived in this country at the age of 17 as an undocumented immigrant," Carvalho said at a news conference last year.

Carvalho arrived in Los Angeles at a critical moment, as the district found itself flush with funding from state and federal COVID-19 relief money but still struggling with the impacts of the pandemic, including learning losses and declining enrollment. He previously sparred with Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis over his order that schools not require masks during the pandemic.

The Miami-Dade school system said in a statement that it was aware of the investigation involving Carvalho but did not have any comment at this time.

James Marshall, an FBI spokesman in Miami, told the AP that agents searched a residence in Southwest Ranches, which is in Broward County west of Fort Lauderdale, on Wednesday morning and "have since cleared the scene." He said no further information was available.

Wednesday's search was the second time in a week the Justice Department has taken action against the LA school district. On Feb. 19, the Trump administration joineda lawsuitalleging that the district discriminates against white students under its decades-old desegregation policy.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass's office said it had no information about the search, noting the public school system operates independently of city government.

Tucker reported from Washington and Watson from San Diego. Associated Press writer Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, also contributed to this report.