Education For All

SFI Holds ‘March To Parliament’

RESPONDING to the call of the Students Federation of India (SFI), hundreds of students from Delhi and neighbouring states marched to parliament to express their protest against rampant commercialisation of education and to demand education for all.

The march, held on August 21, reverberated with the slogans ‘SFI March On, March On’, ‘Stop Commercialisation of Education’, ‘Education cannot be of the Business, by the Business and for the Business’ etc. The procession of students from the SFI central office at Windsor Place was cordoned off at Jantar Mantar, a few hundred metres away from the parliament.

The marchers later sat near the barricades and converted the march into a public meeting, which was addressed by Shamik Lahiri, MP and former general secretary of SFI, Kallol Roy, general secretary of SFI, K K Ragesh, president of SFI, Rohit, president of JNUSU and Jai Bhagawan, secretary of Haryana state committee of the SFI.

The key demand of the students march was that the union government must frame an adequate central legislation to “empower the state governments to redress the anomalies arising out of the Supreme Court judgement in the TMA Pai case.” The aim of such legislation should be to ensure access of education to students from poorer sections, emphasised the leaders who addressed the marchers. While welcoming some aspects of the five member Constitution bench constituted to interpret the apex court’s earlier judgement in the TMA Pai case, they expressed grave concern at the operative part of the verdict which granted managements of private, unaided institutions great freedom in matters of admission, fee structure and recruitment.

A colourful street play was staged depicting the rat race for commercialisation of education and introduction of courses geared to big business houses.

OPEN LETTER TO MP’s

In an open letter to members of parliament, the SFI sought their intervention to rectify the anomalies arising out of the Supreme Court’s judgement in the TMA Pai case. While welcoming the court’s reaffirmation of the right of minorities to run educational institutions of their own, it expressed grave concern regarding that part of the verdict that grants the management of private, unaided education institutes complete freedom in matters of admissions, fee structure and recruitment.

Stressing that education is a basic right, the SFI put forward the following seven point charter of demands:

•      The government should specify the maximum fee chargeable. The fees in the government quota should not be more than the fees charged in the government-run professional institutions.

•      Admission should be on the basis of a Common Entrance Test organised by a state government agency.

•      Adequate reservation for students from socially, economically and regionally backward sections should be ensured. The constitutional mandate of 22.5 per cent reservation for SC/ST students should be adhered to.

•     Proposed committees for monitoring and regulating unaided professional institutes must be made accountable.

•      Representation of students, teachers and other sections of the society and elected representatives of the people in the management of the self–financing institutions should be ensured.

•      Standardised and transparent procedure of appointments and service rules as observed in government institutions should be ensured to uphold the quality of teaching.

•      The democratic rights of the students, teachers and non-teaching staff should be protected.

FEE HIKES & VACANT SEATS

In the past few months, the Supreme Court judgement has been used by the management’s of private educational institutions to impose massive fee hikes, which have resulted in many meritorious students being denied an opportunity to study because of their inability to pay. So severe is this restriction of access that after the admission process this year, many states have reported a large number of seats remaining vacant in professional courses. To this has been the added confusion caused by varying interpretations of the judgement by different state governments, stated the open letter.

The SFI felt that the court gave a contradictory opinion in its judgement by stating on the one hand that the provision of education is a charitable activity and on the other hand suggesting that fees be linked to the cost structure of institutions, effectively saying that they be run as business firms. It said the court’s decision has given the private managements an opportunity to collect capitation fees in an underhand manner.

“The principle underlying the court’s judgement – that education is a ‘non-merit good’ which should be paid for by its users – not only denies the central role played by education in the process of social development but also goes against the idea of equality of opportunity which is central to a democratic society. We believe that education is a basic right, and the state should not only regulate private institutions engaged in providing education but should itself take the lead in providing access to education to all sections of the society, particularly the deprived sections.

Saying that such a vision has been put in jeopardy by the recent Supreme Court judgement, the SFI appealed to the MP’s to give their consideration to this matter and frame adequate central legislation to redress the anomalies that have arisen due to the verdict. (INN)