People's Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
No.
43
October 25, 2009
|
Vol. XXXIII
No.
43 October 25, 2009 |
AIFUCTO Conference Chastises
Modi
Government
Thomas Joseph
THE
three-day conference of All India Federation of University and College
Teachers� Organizations (AIFUCTO) held at Gandhi Vidyapeeth, Ahemedabad
from 10-12
October resolved to support the struggles of university and college
teachers of
Gujarat against Gujarat government�s order rejecting revised UGC scales. More than 650 delegates of the conference who
came from different parts of the country marched to the statue of
Mahatma
Gandhi at Income Tax Circle along with hundreds of teachers from
different
parts of Gujarat, protesting against
what the anti-teacher, anti-educational, authoritarian and arbitrary
decision
of the Gujarat government to
disassociate itself from the national mainstream by refusing to implement the UGC Scales, spurning 80 per cent central assistance for the scheme.
It
may be recalled that the unexpected move of the
The
movement resolution adopted at the conference demanded the Gujarat
government
to rescind the order implementing state scales for college and
university teachers
and to immediately implement the revised UGC scales as per MHRD order
dated
31-12-2008 and vowed take up
appropriate and adequate nation-wide action programme
to strengthen the
The
conference called upon central and state governments to rescind
public-private-partnership
(PPP) model of development in education, which is a short cut to
privatisation of
public assets. It appealed to the
governments
to increase public spending and public control on education with the
objective
of promoting inclusive development through inclusive education. It demanded the modification of the Right to
Education Act by including the provision for free and compulsory
education of
the children in the age group of 0 to 6 and 14 to 18
by making ample financial provision for the
implementation of the scheme. The
conference
also resolved to request the central government to desist from the move
to set
up a National Commission
for Higher
Education and Research by subsuming all the existing regulatory bodies
and
entrusting policy formulation, regulation and national level
administration in
higher education with a small body to the total neglect of federal
principles.
Through other resolutions, the conference
exhorted the
central government not to
set up offshore campus centres of foreign
educational institutions in the country, to abandon the move for
compulsory
accreditation of higher education institutions and to entrust the
responsibility for accreditation with private agencies and not to
implement differential
scales for teachers in new central
universities.
The conference also decided to plan and
implement
corrective public campaigns and
agitations against the misguided educational policies and practices of
the central
and state governments, independently and in collaboration with
democratic
movements of teachers, parents, students and other
public spirited organisations , and to
exhort the teachers across the country to undertake teaching , research
and
extension with greater sense of dedication and social commitment than
ever
before, in view of the increased role that education has come to play
in
ensuring inclusive development in a world which is increasingly being
governed
by knowledge.
The following office bearers were elected at
the conference
who would hold office for the next two years.
Professor James William (president), Professor Asok Barman
(general secretary)
Professor Nikhil Desai (treasurer) Professor Sadiquil Islam, Professor
Madhu
Paranjapai, Professor V P Singh, Professor Rabi Ray, Professor Jaya
Gandhi (national
secretaries). Apart from the above, nine
vice presidents including Professor Chandra Mohanan and Professor
Apoorba Das
and eight zonal secretaries were also elected.
