People's Democracy

 AGAINST COMMERCIALISATION OF EDUCATION

Maharashtra SFI Runs Militant Campaign

                                                                                                                                         Maharudra Dake

IN an India that primarily lived in its villages, there were many items that never had a price put on them so far. Not so long ago, imparting education was considered an ideal form of social service.

In Maharashtra in particular, great social reformers like Mahatma Jotirao Phule, Savitribai Phule, Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, Karmaveer Bhaurao Patil, Maharshi Dhondo Keshav Karve and others are revered not only for their unrelenting struggle for social justice, but also for their untiring efforts to impart education to the oppressed and deprived millions.

But today, in this age of unbridled capitalism and imperialist globalisation, everything has been turned into a commodity to be bought and sold. Foreign and indigenous capital and the rulers representing it are in the forefront of the drive to privatise everything in sight --- be it water or electricity, health or education --- for the sole aim of profit.

In Maharashtra today, as in several other states in the country, as a result of the tremendous fee hikes in medical, engineering and other professional colleges, the rampant commercialisation of education is being actually experienced by large sections of the people as never before.

SC JUDGEMENT OPENS FLOODGATES

It was the Supreme Court judgement of October 31, 2002, in the case of T M A Pai Foundation vs State of Karnataka that opened the floodgates of the present crisis in education by removing almost all constraints on private educational institutions. The right to give admissions to students, to decide their fees, to appoint teachers and employees and to take action against them, was bestowed upon the rapacious private education barons.

Taking immediate cue from this judgement, the Maharashtra Association of Professional Educational Institutions (MAPEI), which is made up of these very education barons, announced massive fee hikes for medical, engineering and other professional courses. The proposed new fee structure per year ranged from Rs 1,90,000 to 5,60,000 for MBBS, Rs 90,000 to 4,00,000 for BAMS, Rs 1,10,000 to 4,00,000 for BDS, and Rs 42,000 to 1,80,000 for BE! Even for the D Ed and B Ed courses, the fees ranged from Rs 31,000 to 1,50,000!

Till last year, the fee structure per year for the MBBS course in Maharashtra was as follows: for the 50 per cent free seats it was Rs 14,050; for the 35 per cent payment seats it was Rs 1,26,000; and for the remaining 15 per cent management seats, it was left to the sweet will of the management. For the other medical streams and engineering, the fees were even less than this. This fee structure was decided upon by expert committees, taking into account the wages of teachers and employees as per the fifth pay commission, developmental expenditure and other necessary items. And yet the private institutions were making considerable profit. So one can imagine the astronomical profit at the MAPEI rates given above! 

GOVT POLICIES FOR PRIVATISATION

It may be recalled that privatisation of education in Maharashtra began in a big way two decades ago, in 1983, when the then Congress state government introduced the No Grant Principle and gave permission to open private professional colleges charging high fees and donations. (They were nowhere near the MAPEI figures given above). The same principle then percolated down to B Ed, D Ed and B P Ed colleges and right up to the schools.

In course of time, there emerged a stratum of corrupt education barons, like the notorious sugar barons of Maharashtra; in several cases both these categories became synonymous. Many of these education barons are today leaders of the INC and the NCP, although some can also be found in the BJP and SS. A large number of them are state ministers, MPs and MLAs who wield great political clout. It is they who control institutions like the MAPEI, and influence the state government itself.

Needless to say, the educational policies of successive Congress and BJP-led central governments strongly favoured the slashing of government expenditure on education and its reckless privatisation. Nothing illustrates this better than the changing composition of central government appointed education commissions. There was a time when such commissions used to be headed by respected scholars like Dr S Radhakrishnan, Dr Zakir Husain and Dr D S Kothari. The education commissions of the present BJP-led regime are headed by outright monopoly capitalists like Birla and Ambani! 

SFI BEGINS CAMPAIGN

It is against these formidable forces that the SFI began its countrywide campaign against the rampant commercialisation of education in the wake of the above Supreme Court judgement. In Maharashtra, the campaign began in December 2002 at the time of SFI district conferences. Discussions and resolutions were initiated in SFI conferences at all levels.

In January 2003, in connection with the SFI state conference held at Pune, a special seminar was held exclusively on the above Supreme Court judgement; it was perhaps the first such seminar to be held in Maharashtra. Renowned constitutional expert Dr Satyaranjan Sathe explained the judgement and all its ramifications in depth.

During the conference itself, another seminar on ‘Commercialisation of Education and Its Alternative’ was organised; it was presided over by former Shivaji University vice chancellor, Dr D N Dhanagare. The conference rally was addressed by former SFI all India president Prakash Karat who gave a call to fight this menace.

In March, several private educational institutions announced their own separate entrance tests for professional courses. On April 3, to protest against this and to demand that the state government exercise its control over the education barons, the SFI organised a statewide dharna at the Azad Maidan, Mumbai. As a result, the state government had to announce the holding of a common entrance test. This was held on June 8 for the medical course; on that day SFI activists in over 15 districts went to the examination centres and distributed leaflets calling for a sustained struggle against the MAPEI’s proposed massive fee hikes.

In the SFI’s state level study camp at Mumbai in June 2003, apart from other important subjects, one whole day was devoted to the issue of struggle against the Supreme Court judgement and the government’s education policy. With the new academic year about to begin, the course of the impending struggle was chalked out. Former state SFI leaders Ajit Abhyankar and Ashok Dhawale and current SFI president K K Ragesh gave valuable guidance and help in this struggle.

FORMS OF STRUGGLE

The first militant action took place on June 19, when over 300 SFI activists from seven districts marched to the MAPEI head office in Pune to condemn its astronomical fee hike proposals. They broke the police cordon, there was a prolonged scuffle and the students were arrested.

To take the issue of the crisis in education to the people at large, the SFI gave the catchy slogan of “One Signature, One Rupee” and this campaign was seriously conducted in some districts. It met with very good response.

In June, the SFI set up an experts committee to go into the question of commercialisation of education and equality of opportunity. The committee was headed by Dr Satyaranjan Sathe and included Dr D N Dhanagare, Prof S G Patil, Dr Sanjay Dabhade and Dr Subhash Jadhav. Its report, published on July 4, it had a big impact, with the print and electronic media covering it widely. The committee, after exhaustive study, laid bare the super-profits being reaped by private education mafia.

Another imaginative form the SFI adopted was the holding of a public hearing on the question in Pune on August 6. Held like a court hearing, government education officials, private educational institutions, student organisations and the people at large were invited to participate in this novel programme. The panel of judges was headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice P B Sawant, and it included noted scientist Dr Naresh Dadhich, social researcher R P Nene, medical expert Dr Janardan Vatwe, AIDWA state president Mariam Dhawale and poet Prof Adinath Ingole. In the public hearing, the common people’s heart-rending accounts put the state government and the education barons in the dock. 

On July 11, SFI activists forcibly entered the campus of D Y Patil Medical College at Pune to condemn the irregular admission procedure adopted and the massive fee hike. D Y Patil is one of the many corrupt education barons in Maharashtra and he runs several sub-standard and rapacious institutions in the state. Goons of the management badly beat up not only the students, but also the journalists and photographers who had come to cover the action. This created an uproar throughout the state, and the media flashed the incident far and wide.

To protest this attack and also to condemn the corruption and profiteering in education, the SFI called for a statewide education bandh on July 22. Through handwritten posters, wallwriting, leaflets and gate meetings, propaganda for the bandh was widely conducted and it received good response in several districts. Large processions of students were organised that day in university centres. As a result, the state government was forced to announce that any educational institution that has taken government help in any form would be treated as a ‘grant-in-aid’ institution.

On August 22, a large 1200-strong statewide student-youth convention was held at Amravati in which the SFI, DYFI, AISF, AIYF participated. The Maharashtra Student-Youth Struggle Committee was set up and it gave a call for large statewide joint demonstrations on September 15. Among those who addressed the convention were former AIFUCTO president Dr Kishore Theckedath, DYFI general secretary Tapas Sinha, former AIYF leader Prof Shivdas Utane, AITUC leader Manohar Deshkar and others.

SFI-DYFI WREST CONCESSIONS

On September 4, the state government began the centralised medical college admissions in Mumbai. But for private medical colleges, all students began to be charged annual fees from Rs 3,15,000 to 3,80,000! Several students in the merit list were denied admission simply because they could not afford these ridiculous fees. There were scenes of such students and their parents literally weeping with frustration at the admission centre. The enraged students and parents forcibly stopped the admissions.

The government began admissions again on September 11. On that day, a large number of SFI and DYFI activists held militant demonstrations at the centralised admission centre in Mumbai, forcibly broke the heavy police cordon and rushed inside. The police unleashed a severe lathicharge in which several SFI-DYFI activists were seriously injured and had to be hospitalised. Even girl students were not spared. The students seeking admission along with their parents spontaneously supported the SFI-DYFI demonstrators and boycotted the admissions 100 per cent. This action also received wide media coverage all over the state and country.

In the next couple of days, there were large protest demonstrations by the SFI-DYFI all over Maharashtra to condemn the lathicharge and to demand an end to the super-profits of the education mafia. Gheraos of government officials took place at several centres. On September 15, Left student-youth organisations conducted a road blockade right outside the Chhatrapati Shivaji Railway Terminus in the heart of South Mumbai. As per the joint call that day, actions were also held all over the state.

As a result of all this, the state government perforce announced a reduction in the medical college fees by half, and also some concessions in respect of economically and socially backward students. For instance, chief minister Sushil Kumar Shinde announced the following annual fee structure: for 25 per cent seats for economically and socially backward students, Rs 25,000; for 50 per cent open merit seats, Rs 1,50,000; for the remaining 25 per cent management seats, whatever the managements wish to charge. The government also said it would pay all the fees for the first category and also the fees for the economically and socially backward students in the second category. But this announcement will apply for the current year alone, and it does not include any of the other professional streams. And even with the so-called fee reduction, the education mafia will still reap 80 per cent more income than last year!

Hence the SFI decided to further intensify the struggle. On September 25, effigies of corrupt education barons were burnt all over the state. On October 1, large candle marches were held by students everywhere. After that there will be big conventions at university centres, followed by other actions. 

This entire struggle has brought the SFI into focus all over the state as the leading force in the struggle against commercialisation of education. It has also activised SFI cadres down to the grassroots. The need now is to carry forward this struggle with even greater student-parent participation and to build a powerful SFI organisation in Maharashtra in the days ahead.