Secular society knew what would happen once Yogi Adityanath became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh but ‘anti-democratic’ activities have started there at a speed that has taken the common man by surprise, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.
He was speaking after releasing the report of a general education commission set up by the Kerala School Teachers Association (KSTA) to inquire into the problems faced by the education sector here on Saturday.
The Chief Minister said that as soon as Yogi Adityanath had come to power, there was an attempt to dictate even what one ate. “Everyone has their own food habits. But in Uttar Pradesh, shops that sell meat and fish are being destroyed,” he said.
There was also a bid to spread propaganda about the country’s scientific achievements in the past by top government leaders. This had to be taken seriously, he said.
The Union government’s education policies were being dictated by organisations that led the National Democratic Alliance, the Chief Minister said. Such attempts had run into trouble earlier. Now again, it was trying to implement them without any significant change.
The Union government’s neglect of Kerala, as visible in the issues of ration allocation or drought relief, could be seen in the education sector too. As a result, education had become out of reach of the common man. Even school education was finding it difficult to escape the clutches of commercialisation at the national level. Even the secular character of educational institutions was under threat.
However, the NDA was not alone in this. The UPA government had started commercialisation of education, and this was adopted by the UDF in the State with a vengeance. The decision to close down uneconomic schools and start unaided institutions was part of this. Public schools bore the brunt of these decisions. It didn't help that the unaided schools boasted new buildings, benches, and colourful uniforms, though the public school education was better.
It was not enough to demand that public schools be protected. These needed to change with the times. And this is where the General Education Protection Campaign became relevant.
The government lacked funds to protect all schools, so parent-teacher associations, alumni, people’s representatives, local self-government institutions should come together to improve schools. Teachers, he said, needed to be at the forefront of such efforts.
The government would take a close look at the report of the KSTA commission and take necessary action, the Chief Minister said. It would become a valuable record of the past and present of the education sector, he said.
Planning Board vice-chairman V.K. Ramachandran, SCERT Director and general education commission chairman J. Prasad, Director of Public Instruction K.V. Mohan Kumar, and KSTA office-bearers were present.
