ON EDUCATION

ON EDUCATION

The 9th All India Conference of Democratic Youth Federation of India demands universalization of education, equitable access to education and social justice in education and strongly oppose privatization, commercialization and centralization of education and prevalent rampant corruption in education.

DYFI, since its formation has put forwarded the demand for 'Education for all, Jobs for all'. Even after 65 years of independence, universal education is still not available despite the fact that constitution provides for to the Indian State to give free and compulsory education in its directive principles of state policy. In its decision in 1993 The Supreme Court has given right to education a status of fundamental right while treating it as implicit in 'right to live' under Article 21, In 2002 education was given a status of fundamental right through a constitutional amendment and added it as article 21(A) in the Constitution and in 2010 Right to Education Act, 2010 was enacted. But, the respective governments prefers to measure the development of the nation by sensex and foreign investment and do not even consider the indicators and status of education, employment and health as measures of development. In 1964 the Kothari Commission after a comprehensive study recommended the government to spend 10% of the central budget on education and to implement "common schooling system" to provide quality education to all. But shameless governments of our country did not implemented those recommendations till date.

Recently government has enacted Right to Education Act but has not ensured the proper allocation of budget for its implementation and the accountability of its implementation is also not well defined. Similarly due to inadequate expenditure on higher education there are fee hikes, lack of hostels, scholarships, infrastructure, lack of permanent teachers and staff, because of which a vast majority of students are being denied from access as well as from getting quality education. Therefore due to the lack of proper government universities and degree colleges, private institutions mushrooming are everywhere. In these institutions the students are subjects of exploitation as there is no control on admission process and fees. The 9th conference demands for a strict law to control private institutions.

The important concept of social justice in education is also under attack. There is no reservation for deprived sections in private institutions. The government talks a lot about upliftment of deprived sections and has initiated schemes like Gender sensitive budgeting, SC/ST Sub plan, 15 points programme for minorities but such schemes are not backed by adequate of funds. DYFI demands proper allocation of budget for such schemes.

Absence of democracy in educational institutions is an important aspect of our times. In many states student union elections are not taking place. In campuses which have a duty to incorporate democratic –political consciousness in students, these students are punished and victimized if they take such initiatives. Our conference demand for democratization of campuses.

There is an increasing trend of centralization of education. The central government or central regulatory bodies are continuously taking decisions on education without even consulting with state governments. The decision of Bar Council of India to conduct an All India Examination, the decision of NCTE regarding B.Ed and proposed bill of NCHER are indicators of these trends.

Apart from that financial anarchy growing in educational institutions, corruption like scams in scholarship etc and unhealthy practices in evaluation needs immediate intervention.

Apart from private sector, government is also keen to allow foreign capital in education, foreign universities etc which will not only further privatize and commercialize education but also adversely affect the intellectual sovereignty of our country .

This 9th All India Conference of DYFI expresses its deep concern of these issues an demands immediate actions to cope up with the situation. This conference also gives a call for intensifying the struggle against neo-liberal attacks on education.

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