Repeal new education policy, say teachers

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, September 4

The Government School Teachers’ Union, Punjab, held a state convention to mark Teacher’s Day.

Patron of the organisation Charan Singh Sarabha gave information on the topic ‘New education policy — teacher status and quality education’.

He said former President Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who was a president as well as a teacher, dedicated his birthday in view of the importance of the teaching profession. But from time to time governments, especially after the implementation of open market neo-liberal economic policies since 1990, have severely damaged the status, service conditions and dignity of teachers.

Today, a large number of teachers in the country and state are being exploited by paying low salaries in the name of contract volunteers, education workers, education friends, education providers, etc. Various speakers Jagmel Singh Pakhowal, Navin Zeera, Manish Sharma, Tehal Singh Sarabha, Hari Dev, Sanjeev Sharma demanded repeal of the new National Education Policy 2020 introduced by the Central Government.

Explaining the new policy, members of the union termed it as a ‘policy of privatisation and commercialisation of education’ which was taking the education system away from the education policy of 1968, 1986 and 1991 and was about to destroy the already established school system.

The new policy seeks to suppress the rational and scientific thinking of children by promoting education in madrasas, temples and ashrams in an attempt to push education beyond government responsibility.

On the other hand, giving more autonomy to private sector schools and colleges to pave the way for economic exploitation of children and handing over public education to social volunteers is a big negligence. It did not even mention regular reasons for all teachers working in the country on a contract basis whereas according to the Right to Education Act, 2009, they should have been regularised by 2015.

They demanded that all contractual teachers should be brought in the department immediately and regularised.