The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Call for social control of education

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Thursday, Dec 14, 2006
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Call for social control of education

Special Correspondent

Make education accessible to all children: CPI(M) general secretary

BOOSTING YOUTH POWER: Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan flanked by Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat and party State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan at a meeting organised by the Students Federation of India in Thiruvanant hapuram to mark the conclusion of its march on Wednesday.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat has called for stern measures at the national level to enforce social control in higher education and to provide access to higher education to underprivileged sections.

Addressing a meeting organised here on Wednesday to mark the conclusion of a march taken out by the Students Federation of India (SFI) to press for educational reforms at the national level, Mr. Karat said it was a matter of regret that the Union Government was showing no interest in bringing about social control in higher education. The proposed Central legislation on education must have provisions for streamlining admissions and fees in private higher education institutions as well, besides ensuring access to higher education for the weaker sections of society, he said.

The CPI(M) leader said it was a matter of shame that even six decades after the country became independent, primary education was inaccessible to a large number of children. Although there is urgent need to make education accessible to the lakhs of children who now have no opportunity to get education, the situation is moving from bad to worse with lakhs of children getting pushed out of the framework of education.

Funds allocation

The CPI(M) has consistently sought greater allocation for education and health care. Although the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) had come to power promising to set apart 6 per cent of the budget allocation for education, it is unable to earmark even 4 or 5 per cent for the purpose. Similarly, it has been spending only 0.9 per cent of the budget allocation on public health. The problem that the country faces today is not one of scarcity of resources but of concentration of resources in the hands of a few. Student movements in Kerala have done a commendable job of fighting such tendencies, Mr. Karat said.

Historian K.N. Panikkar flagged off the march led by SFI president K.K. Ragesh in Bangalore on November 4. It reached Kerala after covering Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.

The other members of the jatha were SFI Central committee members P.K. Biju, Albina Shakeel, G. Selvam and Banita Taklani. SFI State president Sindhu Joy presided over the valedictory meeting. Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, CPI(M) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Democratic Youth Federation of India president K.N. Balagopal, P. Krishnaprasad, MLA, CPI(M) district committee secretary Pirappancode Murali, Kerala Univeristy Syndicate member C. Bhaskaran and SFI State secretary M. Swaraj addressed the meeting.

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