People's Democracy

STFI to Join Sept 7 Strike

 

MEETING at Banga Bhawan in New Delhi on August 14, the general council of the School Teachers Federation of India (STFI) unanimously resolved to participate in the all-India strike on September 9, called for by central trade union organisations including the CITU, AITUC, INTUC, BMS and HMS. Curbs on price rise, safeguarding and strengthening the public distribution system, protection to the public sector undertakings, withdrawal of the PRRDA Bill, regularisation of contract workers and appointments on the vacant posts are some of the demands of the proposed strike.

 

With STFI president Kartik Mandal in the chair, 63 general council members attended the meeting.

 

The council congratulated the state units of the STFI for the good mobilisation of teachers to participate in the National Education Convention held at New Delhi on August 13. (The convention was organised by the National Forum in Defence of Education.) It also resolved to organise state level and then district level education conventions to bring all the likeminded organisations together during the coming September to November.

 

Another council decision was to mobilise a large number of teachers from various states to participate in the mammoth rally at New Delhi on December 2. The rally is to press the demands that the UPA government must stop the centralisation, privatisation and commercialisation of education. The government must save and strengthen public education by covering the pre-primary and higher secondary education under the Right to Education Act, allocating six per cent of the GDP for education and by introducing a common school system. It must also bring all the self-financing (!) educational institutions under social control, drop the PPP model for educational institutions and not allow foreign universities in India.

 

The STFI will organise a national level seminar on education at Kolkata to observe the 150th birth centenary of Rabindranath Tagore.