Shiksha Swaraj Yatra reaches Mussoorie

Tribune News Service

Mussoorie, April 25

The Shiksha Swaraj Yatra, that began from Dehradun on April 20, reached Mussoorie today after passing through the Jaunpur, Uttarkashi, Nainbagh, and Thatyud regions.

The yatra was started under the aegis of Swaraj Abhiyan and Mahila Mandal Abhiyan, led by Kamla Pant, to create awareness towards improving the education system in the state.

The 15-member team stopped at various places and raised the issue of one education system across the country. The members reached Shaheed Sthal in Mussoorie early this morning where they paid homage to statehood martyrs.

They appealed to people to persuade the policy makers to come out with a unified education system that did not discriminate between rich and poor.

Kamla Pant, coordinator of Mahila Mangal Dal, said no attention was being paid towards education, which had deteriorated extremely due to the abysmal attitude of the politicians and the bureaucrats since the formation of separate state of Uttarakhand.

Due to the poor standards of education, the children of poor parents were just wasting time and endangering their future as no study was being imparted in the state government schools that had turned into political stage where education had taken a backseat, she lamented.

The condition of the government schools was not improving as the children of government employees, officials and politicians had the luxury of not studying in such schools and were receiving education in private institutions, Pant said.

The motive of the Sawaraj Yatra was to bring about a sea change in education and persuade the government to introduce a law making it mandatory for the government employees and officials to send their children to government schools. Only then would the education standards improve and the reliance of people on private and expensive private institutions be removed, said Tushar Rawat, general secretary of the Yatra.

Tushar demanded that the government come out with such a law that all the people drawing their salaries from government, be it politicians, IAS or a peon, should send their wards to government schools. He also demanded a check on the high-handed attitude of the private institutions in the state.

The speakers also raised the issue of farmers losing their crops to wild animals, especially boars and monkeys. They demanded that distribution of funds in the name of natural disasters, Kumbh etc be halted as it all was usurped through corrupt practices by the successive governments.

Members of the Shiksha Swaraj Yatra also presented a street play at the Mall Road to create awareness towards the issue.

Manoj Dhyani, Jabar Singh Verma, Jabar Singh Pawel, Tushar Rawat, Padma Gupta, Rajiv Rajput, AN Pandey and Dhwajvir Singh also participated in the yatra.

From here, the yatra would go to 96 places around the state and end at Dehradun in form of a massive convention.