The Hindu : New Delhi News : Movement against private varsities gains momentum

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 18, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Movement against private varsities gains momentum

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, FEB. 17. With a recent Supreme Court judgment on the Chhattisgarh Private Sector Universities Act, 2002, closing the door on 112 universities from the State, the movement against private universities seems once again to have gained momentum in the Capital.

While Thursday saw the Students' Federation of India (SFI) stage a protest march to the Ministry of Human Resource and Development against the Private Universities Bill proposed at a conference of the State education ministers this past January, it will be the turn of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on Tuesday to stage a demonstration in support if its demand for a central legislation to govern all universities across the country.

Objecting to the very idea of private universities, the SFI today stated that the government instead of allowing private player to reap profit from the education sector must fulfil its promise of spending 6 per cent of GDP on education as mentioned in the CMP.

Rejecting the proposal to allow foreign universities open up branches or campuses in the country, the SFI in a statement issued today said, "Universities are nerve centres of our country where ideas are cultivated and directed towards developing intellectual self-reliance. In this context, foreign universities are totally a misfit and will undermine our intellectual self reliance."

While pointing out that there has been a phenomenal expansion of self-financing educational institution over the last decade, the ABVP today stated that privatisation has led to commercialisation of education across the country. Speaking at a press conference held here to announce the demonstration, the general secretary of ABVP, K.N. Raghunandan, said instead of a common fee structure it demanded a differential one that was based on the grading of universities and the paying ability of students.

"We are proposing that there should be only one entrance test at the State level and a single window system for admissions. Further, to fix the fee structure, there should be grading of universities so that fee demanded is according to the quality of education provided by the institute," he said. Adding that the paying capacity of students should be an important deciding factor, the ABVP has proposed the formation of an education tribunal to deal with the various disputes concerning education.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi