Fri. Mar 29th, 2024
200 point reservation

Thousands of Teachers across India have been gathered in Delhi for protest against the education system laid down by Modi Government, and demands ‘a free and affordable education and dignified employment’ and to reserve the ‘rights of education for everyone’.

Delhi University professor Najma Rehmani said, “The government is slowly destroying the public education system, and giving preference to private education. The government schools in states are not getting money and aid from the Centre, and it’s a big jolt to the federal structure of India, which is the current government destroying slowly.”

“The school syllabus is designed in a way to destroy the components of secularism. The government is giving preferences to Hindu ideology in the school books and prayers which is harming the idea of India at the end,” said protesting professor.

Rehmani also expressed the concern over vacant posts not being filled in the universities and colleges.

“The government is planning to terminate various vacant posts in colleges and universities after the introduction of a new department-wise roster,” she said.

According to the report laid down by all India Universities and Colleges SC, ST, OBC Teachers Association, 55% of teaching positions have been reported vacant for reserved category candidates which are not filled by the institutions for a long time. University Grants Commission put a lot of efforts towards filling of vacant seats by the institutions.

The report added, 5606 posts were vacant for positions like assistant professors, associate professors, and professors in minority universities. There are 873 posts for Scheduled Castes, 493 for Scheduled Tribes, 786 for OBC and 264 PWD posts lying vacant. The total number of sanctioned posts are 17,092.

The number of vacant posts for teachers, assistant professors, associate professors and professors of all categories has reached up to 1246 posts in the four central Universities, the report said.

The Professor also criticized the decision made by the Delhi University for granting autonomy to various colleges.

“It (autonomy) gives the college the right to decide course fees for various courses, and normally the course fees are much higher than formulated by the University. It’s only creating a gap between the economically weaker and rich sections in higher studies,” Rehmani said.

The Protest was formed and headed by Joint Forum for Movement on Education (JFME) and gained support by eminent figures including historian Romila Thapar, noted author Githa Hariharan, and Carnatic music vocalist T M Krishna.

“Students and teachers are constantly being hounded with charges of being ‘anti-national and seditious.’ Indeed, the purpose of education and its process of questioning and debate is being sabotaged. Knowledge itself – the quest for knowledge and its growth – is the victim, along with the future of India which resides in the youth of the country,” a joint statement issued by Thapar, Hariharan and Krishna.

“The Indian Writers Forum supports the students’ demands and expresses solidarity with their march to save education, democracy, and India we want to live and learn in,” the statement said.

 

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