As part of the nation-wide movement by the All India Forum for Right to Education against the NDA Government’s draft New Education Policy, 2016, the Telangana Save Education Committee will conduct protest meets and rallies between January 1 and 31.
Also a bus tour will be conducted in villages in February to spread awareness among public. Addressing a press conference here on Friday, representatives from the committee said round-table meets will be organised in all districts on January 3, on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Savitribai Phule.
Protest rallies
Memoranda will be submitted to MLAs, MPs, and political parties between January 16 and 31, and rallies taken out on January 26 protesting against the policies being implemented in education sector.
Academic and president of the Forum G. Haragopal shot back at the narrative attributing government schools’ plight to teachers’ inefficiency, asking how Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya schools are performing well.
Despite recommendations for Rs. 1.7 lakh crore to be allotted to improve standards of government schools, the school education is starved of funds, he said.
University education too is affected adversely due to lack of infrastructure, grants and staff, Prof. Haragopal noted. Now, the NDA Government is seeking to destroy the remaining good universities too, in favour of foreign and private universities. He lashed out at the Telangana Government too for defaulting on the promise of KG to PG free and compulsory education and demanded that the DSC be conducted and teachers appointed immediately.
He also demanded 20 per cent allocation exclusively for education in the coming budget.
Land for university
Criticism was levelled against the Telangana Government’s decision to offer land to Reliance group for setting up a university.
Prof. Haragopal pointed out that Mahatma Gandhi University in Nalgonda was charged Rs. 10 crore for allotment of land, and Palamur University was given only Rs. 6 crore and nine faculty posts.
A movement on the lines of Telangana movement will be built to save the education sector, he said.
[Source:-The Hindu]
