Education for All, Jobs for All

Tapas Sinha

The Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) is holding an all-India rally in New Delhi on November 3 demanding ‘jobs for all, education for all’, implementation of promises made in the CMP and thwarting of communal, separatist and terrorist forces in the nation.

Thousands of youth from all over the country are set to participate in this rally. In this background we are publishing this article written by the DYFI general secretary.

SEPTEMBER 15 has been observed as a day of demand “Education for All, Job for All”. DYFI, the biggest youth organisation of our country, undertook various programmes on that day. On the demand for education and job students - youth of our country, from Kashmir to Kanyakumary responded at the call of DYFI.

About two months back on August 15, we observed our 58th Independence Day. The prime minister of our country, Dr Manmohan Singh spoke about providing education and job to the people. Earlier some other prime ministers had also spoken about it in their speeches on the occasion of Independence Day. But none of them implemented it. The opportunity to have education and job still remains inaccessible to a large section of our youth population.

Through out the world it has been accepted that for development and progress of a country education and employment for every one is an essential condition. But the ruling classes of our country from the perspective of their class interest do not want to follow policies such that education and employment can be provided to every one. In our bourgeois system, the ruling classes want the access to education and employment to be limited to a small section of the population. They think that if the majority of our people do not have education, the steamroller of exploitation will move on without any obstacle. And as more and more people remain unemployed the surplus for capitalist class will be more. Naturally, in this bourgeois society, the issue of employment and education is neglected.   

According to Human Development Report, India was lowly ranked 123 in 1991 on the index of human development. And in 2004, our rank has further gone down to 127. At the time of independence the number of illiterates in our country was 28 crore and now the number of illiterates has risen to 36 crore. In the age group of more than 15 years the percentage of illiterates in India is 38.3, whereas the percentage of illiterates in the developing world as a whole is 23.3, 83 per cent of our children are enrolled in the primary schools. For the girl child the situation is a more hopeless.  26 per cent of our girls are out of primary school. At class V level the percentage of enrolment has fallen to 59. As against 64 per cent of the youth receiving education in the world, only 60 per cent of the youth receives education in developing countries. In India, the situation is far more grave as just 55 per cent of the youth receives education.

Similarly, the unemployment situation is grim. The total number of unemployed youth who are presently enrolled in the employment exchange is 4 crore and 20 lakh. At the end of year 2000, the number of unemployed youth who were enrolled in the employment exchange was 2 crore and 95 lakh. At present 1 crore and 69 lakh unemployed have received education upto the secondary level while 74 lakh are under graduates.

The number of unemployed graduates and post-graduates is 53 lakh.

Table 1

Unemployed Youth-Education Stream

This is the situation of employment for the educated youth. If we include the unemployed youth who are presently not enrolled in the employment exchange, the number of unemployed will cross 16 crore. The employment situation for the whole economy is grim.

Table 2

Unemployment

Source: Economic Survey, 2003-04.

The unemployment rate through out the country has increased. It is true for both rural and urban areas. The agrarian economy is going through a deep crisis. The growth in informal sector is low. Along with this government has stopped recruiting people in public sector. As a result the number of people employed in the organised sector has gone down.

Table 3

Employment in Organised Sector (in Lakh)

Source: Economic Survey, 2002-03,

&  DGE&T, Ministry of Labour.

To save our country from this pathetic situation of lacking in education facilities and growing unemployment, we need to have a continuous struggle. The demand for education to all and job to all is valid for every section of the people. That is why the struggle has to involve all sections of the society. And students and youth have to take a leading role in this struggle. As a left student-youth organisation SFI and DYFI have played an important role in this regard. We have wedged a continuous battle on these issues. Along with the battles in different states, the battle is getting intensified centrally. Our organisation has grown significantly through this movement.

In last six years, during the BJP-led regime of NDA, education and employment were under tremendous attack. We, the left forces of our country, have wedged a massive struggle against these policies. As a result, the people of our country have removed the NDA government from power. The UPA government has been set up at the centre. A common minimum programme has been accepted by the various constituents of the central government. The UPA government will have to follow this programme. Congress alone has ruled over this country for forty-five years. They have failed to fulfill the expectations of the people. This time there are some other parties in the UPA along with Congress. The government has to take steps to fulfill the expectations of the people. It has to implement the common minimum programme. The government has to work for the majority of the people. Along with that we have to intensify our struggle. September 15 is the day for demanding Education to All, Job to All. From September 15 onwards we shall collect two crore signatures of youth on a charter of demand through out the country. We shall submit this Charter of Demand to the prime minister. The demands are

1)        Education to All, Employment to All.

2)        Right to Work is a Fundamental Right

3)        Fulfillment of all the vacant posts in the central government.

4)        Formulation of National Youth Policy and Sports Policy

5)        Implementation of Land Reform.

This signature campaign will come to an end in October 31. And this is the beginning of our intensified struggle for Education to All and Job to All.