People's Democracy

STFI Delegation Meets HRD Minister

 A DELEGATION of School Teachers’ Federation of India (STFI) leaders, comprising its president, D Rami Reddy, general secretary, Tushar Panchanan, treasurer, Pradip Biswas, and two secretaries, P Rajagopal of Kerala and Wazir Singh of Haryana met the union human resources development (HRD) minister Arjun Singh on July 13 and submitted a memorandum.

THE STFI, while broadly welcoming the thrust given to education in both the CMP and the budget, put forward certain demands on certain immediate problems. It called for immediate withdrawal of the communalised textbooks introduced by the NCERT since 2002. It also wanted all unscientific, retrograde subjects to be withdrawn from the curriculum. There should also be de-saffronisation of important institutions, which have been infiltrated by communal, anti-democratic forces.

The STFI requested the minister to constitute a consultative committee consisting of the teachers organisations at the national level to review the implementation of the mid-day meal scheme through out the country.

Arjun Singh agreed with the delegation that the NDA government had vitiated the field of education and assured that the present government will undo all the misdeeds of the NDA government at an early date after proper discussion with the educationists and others concerned. He sought cooperation of all concerned. (INN)