Meet to envision inclusive schooling

“The aim of education is social development, and not
profit-making. ‘Education shops' must either not be allowed to function
or must not have profit as their motive,” said Anil Sadgopal, presidium
member, All India Forum for Right to Education (AIF-RTE). Announcing
that the State Platform for Common School System (SPCSS) along with the
AIF-RTE will be organising a two-day all-India conference for
‘Abolishing commercialisation of education and building a common school
system' later this month, he said that excluding disparity and including
diversity were necessary to come up with a new system of schooling. The
abolition of commercialisation in education is a pre-requisite to
achieve a common school education system, he said.
The
two-day conference, which will be inaugurated by historian K.N.
Panikkar, will delve into issues that will go into the creation of
decentralised, locally administered, government-funded and facilitated
neighbourhood schools. The conference will look into issues such as
whether an amendment could be brought in the Constitution to ensure the
possibility of the including those below six years of age through a
fully state-funded common school system from pre-primary to class 12.
The possibility of guaranteeing entirely state-funded and cost-free
education from kindergarten to the post graduate level would also be
explored.
Contending that the RTE Act, 2009, was a
means to divert public funds into private hands, Professor Sadgopal,
noted that the act would allow managements of private schools to hike
fees for those students who do not fall within the 25 per cent. It would
develop neither government schools not private schools, and
institutionalise the multi-layered schooling system. He called for a
common school system which will be funded by the government, but not
controlled by it, and where governance would be decentralised and
democratised to include active participation of teachers and parents
Ramesh
Patnaik, Organising Secretary, AIF-RTE, said that this was part of a
larger movement against commercialisation which has become rampant
following the adoption of neo-liberal policies over the two decades.
According
to Prof. Sadgopal, the conference would be on the lines of the
conference that was held in Wardha by Gandhiji in 1937, wherein two key
aspects were emphasised —linking education to productivity, and
providing free and compulsory education. It was discussed in the
conference how there was no dearth of finances, and that it was matter
of setting financial priorities, which the case even today, he said.
Believing that a common school system was an achievable goal, he cited
examples of countries such as Finland.
The national
conference which will be held at Valluvar Kottam on June 30 and July 1
will have eminent speakers from around the country and abroad. Some of
the sessions that will be held are – ‘Constitutional and judicial
imperatives for educational policies and laws' by Justice A.K. Ganguly,
in which Justice A.P. Shah, former Chief Justice of Madras and Delhi
High Courts will participate; ‘International experience in building
state-funded CSS and engaging with neo-liberal assault on education'
which will see participation from Cuba, Venezuela, Germany and
Australia. Other sessions include ‘Historical, socio-economic and
political perspective of the struggle for Right to Education and Common
School System (CSS)', and ‘Chennai Declaration: presentation,
recommendation and endorsement' among others.
I.P.
Kanakasundaram, President SPCSS, and Vice-Chairperson, All India
Conference Steering Committee, P.B. Prince Gajendra Babu, Convenor and
Member Secretary, All India Conference Steering Committee, and, Vikram
Amravat, National Executive Member, AIF-RTE were present.
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