Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Left wants social control over schools, colleges: Brinda

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member and Rajya Sabha MP Brinda Karat has made it clear that the Left is of the firm view that there must be social control over educational institutions, even while upholding the rights of the minorities in this regard.

Inaugurating a women’s conference organised here on Sunday by the Association of Kerala Government College Teachers (AKGCT), Ms. Karat who is also vice-president of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), said “the rights of the minorities to run educational institutions should not be mixed up with the need for social control over such institutions”.

The Left has been strongly and consistently upholding the rights of the minorities to run educational institutions. The Left had vehemently opposed the move of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government in Gujarat to bring in control over educational institutions of the minorities there.

But ensuring social control over educational institutions is very important. It is for ensuring access to education for the marginalised and disadvantaged sections. The issue is particularly crucial because numerous profit-mongering groups have started educational institutions in the country, Ms. Karat said.

Emphasising that ensuring access to higher education for all sections was an important commitment of the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) approved by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government, the CPI(M) leader said that some of the actions of the Government, however, were contrary to this position.

For instance, there was a move to introduce Bills to permit private universities and foreign universities across the country. The Left vehemently opposed both the Private University Bill and the Foreign University Bill.

Indiscriminate opening up of private universities would lead to denial of access to a large section of students to higher education apart from leading to monopolisation of education sector by profit-mongers.

Health Minister P.K. Sreemathy, AKGCT vice-president C.P. Chithra and Kerala NGO Union president C.P. Mary and Mayor Jayan Babu were among those who spoke on the occasion.

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