Home

Follow Countercurrents on Twitter 

Google+ 

Support Us

Popularise CC

Join News Letter

CC Videos

Editor's Picks

Press Releases

Action Alert

Feed Burner

Read CC In Your
Own Language

Bradley Manning

India Burning

Mumbai Terror

Financial Crisis

Iraq

AfPak War

Peak Oil

Globalisation

Localism

Alternative Energy

Climate Change

US Imperialism

US Elections

Palestine

Latin America

Communalism

Gender/Feminism

Dalit

Humanrights

Economy

India-pakistan

Kashmir

Environment

Book Review

Gujarat Pogrom

Kandhamal Violence

WSF

Arts/Culture

India Elections

Archives

Links

Submission Policy

About Us

Disclaimer

Fair Use Notice

Contact Us

Search Our Archive

 



Our Site

Web

Subscribe To Our
News Letter

Name: E-mail:

 

Printer Friendly Version

End The Robbery Of Private Educational Players!
Abolish The Recolonizing Policies!

By RSYF and its associate organizations

25 July, 2012
Countercurrents.org 

The ‘quest for profit' of the imperialism has engulfed and dared to commodize even the mother's milk. Likewise health and education - on which the existence and civilization of the mankind rest, are now commodities in the sense as a car, table or chair which are being sold, brought or traded in the market because of the LPG policy of the government. Once education was a ‘service' which should be provided by the government compulsorily at free of cost to all its citizens, has now become a ‘profitable commodity' in the hands of corporates.

Central and state governments had opened the market of education to private as a part of the first phase of structural reforms after signing WTO agreement in 1990. Privatization of education has made it lucrative without any investment. So the business of education is now in the hands of anti-social elements like liquor mafia, politicians and corporate spiritual leaders. The responsibility of the government in providing education as a service to its citizen has been transferred to the shoulders of the parents. Already by cutting down the public fund and subsidies for education, the quality of education in government schools and higher education institutes are being degraded by the government. By establishing a public opinion that only the private English medium schools can give quality and work-oriented education, the plundering of private institutes is ensured.

Even though these private education traders don't have any basic infrastructure or trained teachers to run a school, because of the parents' desire for giving quality education to their children has forcefully driven all class of parents towards private schools. Forthwith, crores of common people are burdened with huge education fee and other related expenses even for their children's pre-primary education. Thus, for most of them, higher education is unprocurable. Since Indian government acted as a welfare state so far, the parents could knock the doors of courts and tribunals against these educational plunderers to get justice.

But after signing GATS, the government is vehemently implementing the second phase of State's LPG policy. In par with that, even the judiciary is giving judgments in accordance with government's policy to open education to the corporates and allow foreign direct investment. For example in the T.M.A. Pai Foundation case, the 11 bench judges gave a judgment clearly stating education as business which is the right of a merchant to do trading as allowed by article 19(1)g of the constitution. Likewise the various committees of academicians, intellects, activists and even with comprador capitalists like Ambani and Birla constituted by the GoI have also given reports in support of its neoliberal policy. In accordance with the reports, government has passed so many bills within these two years to make the day robbery of these educational plunderers legitimate. The State is directly implementing the World Bank's vision of decentralization of governance in school education as such, to give the management and fund appraising in the hands of school management committees constituted by NGO's and Panchayat Rajs .

Hence, the GOI has washed its hands from the responsibility of giving its citizens their fundamental right to get compulsory education at free of cost from a neighborhood common school. To strengthen policy of privatization and liberalization of education, it has passed the RTE Act which is a mere origami weapon for the common men. The implementation of reforms in school education has the motto of supplying students with multiple skills that are relevant for the new higher educational institutes going to be set by foreign universities and corporates in India . Work-centered education proposed by NCF according to World Bank direction is to serve the trained work force to the multinational companies.

Even major Universities of US and West are running out of fund because of the cuts in public fund after the recession, India is paving red carpet to welcome those bankrupted institutes to make profit out of plundering the poor Indians. As Hillary stated in the last education submit, only Trivalley like bogus universities will be coming for this ransack. As the bills passed during the last three years in the parliament unfettered them from their accountability to GoI, even the CAG and judiciary cannot intervene in the functioning of these institutes and educational SEZs. FDI and ‘Pay and get' policy in education will be the death knell for rest of the democracy and sovereignty of India . Since India is being recolonized after signing WTO and GATS, whose directions are now the law of the land, has made every service as a tradable commodity. But the middle class is wholeheartedly welcoming foreign institutes expecting the opportunities in getting foreign degrees in India which will be the doorway to jobs in corporate sector. But we have an experience of Trivalley University scam and its aftermath drama.

Because of the socio-economic inequalities like caste, class, gender and regional disparities majority of the people have been excluded from access to education. Even after the independence, GoI couldn't give education to 3 crore tribal and Dalit children. Since 40% of the villages don't have power or transport facility, the children has to walk minimum 10 km to get the primary education. This has increased the dropouts of female children after elementary education. The privatization of education has widened the disparities already existing in this society. The enrollment to higher education remains a dream for the poor and the socially downtrodden castes and tribes while they are struggling even to get school education. Recently lots of engineering and medical students committed suicide because of the education loan debt.

In this scenario, after the liberalization of education, some of the banks have come forward to give school loans of Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 4 laks annually at an interest of 12% aiming the middle class. How a common man can spend such a huge amount annually for school education? Even the middle class can't afford it. Hence the free and compulsory education with unique curriculum, unique pedagogy and common examination in common-neighbourhood schools with better infrastructure (like a common ration shop specifically for the people of particular region) will be the only inclusive method for a society like India with all kinds of inequalities.

While the ruling Congress is strongly implementing neo-liberal policies as acts, the opposition of BJP - which once had separate ministry to privatize public institutions, is a political stunt to act like well-wishers of people, aiming only the vote banks. The pseudo-communists, activists and intellects those who are in the forefront in opposing the government's move also seek only certain reforms within this system like pressurizing the government rather calling for a mass movement against this. When the system itself is corrupted because of the neo-liberal policy of the GoI, the expectation of democratic solution by doing some reforms within the current system is ridiculous.

All the vote craze parties, judiciary system, bureaucrats, intellectuals and all those who are institutionalizing the political power over the people from top down are implementing the LPG policy as the law of the land which allows legitimized plundering of the corporates. The only solution would be the New Democratic revolution by uprising of broad masses to overthrow utterly reactionary decadent old bourgeoisie parliamentary institutions.

Let us fight for

•  the nationalization of all private educational institutions to provide free and compulsory education for all!

•  establishing common-neighbourhood school system with unique curriculum, unique pedagogy, common examination and better infrastructure!

•  overthrowing the recolonization (LPG) policies which is the basis for privatization of education!

•  establishing the new-democratic political power from below by people's uprising!

Note: Revolutionary Student and Youth Front (RSYF) is one of the associate organization of Peoples Art and Literary Association (PALA), is in the forefront in organizing the mass protest to abolish the Privatization of education and to implement the common neighborhood school system in Tamilnadu, right from the beginning of TN Chief Minister Jayalalitha's move to withdraw ‘Common Syllabus Programme'. RSYF continuously doing Gherao, protests, campaigns and demonstrations against the educational plunderers who charge capitation and other fees much above the recommendations of govt. constituted committee. In the vicinity of privatization of education as a part of re-colonization, RSYF conducted state-wide campaign against this anti-people, anti-student policy and organized the “Conference against privatization of education” on July, 2010 at various parts of Tamilnadu (Chennai, Cuddalore, Trichy, Villuppuram and Karur) .

Courtesy: Pamphlet issued by RSYF and its associate organizations, Tamilnadu.

Source : http://rsyf.wordpress.com/2012/07/07/rsyf-maanadu-english-pirasuram/

The organization comprises of Peoples Art and Literary Association (PALA), New Democratic Labour Front (NDLF), Peasants Liberation Front (PLF), Revolutionary Student - Youth Front (RSYF) and Women's Liberation Front (WLF), Tamilnadu.

Contact:

Contact: V. Karthikeyan Ph.: 9445112675

Email: [email protected] www.rsyf.wordpress.com


 




 

 


Comments are moderated