Ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the State Platform for Common School System (SPCSS) has raised a pitch against the public-private partnership model in education and health, and put forth its demands pertaining to the two sectors.
Prince Gajendra Babu, general secretary, SPCSS, called the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, a weak Act as it has failed to ensure transparency in the manner in which private schools conducted their admissions. “There is also no monitoring mechanism to ensure the effective implementation of the 25 per cent reservation clause,” he said.
SPCSS called for a fully State-funded common schooling system with the mother tongue as a medium of instruction and early childhood care covering the 0-18 age group. Pertaining to higher education, it called for withdrawal of the higher education bills.
C.S. Rex Sargunam, president, Tamil Nadu Health Development Association, said the public health system must be strengthened and private hospitals must not be run with a profit motive.
Members of SPCSS said quality drinking water must not be a commodity and must be available to all. They released a citizen manifesto with their key demands pertaining to the sectors.
Candidates who passed the Tamil Nadu Teacher Eligibility Test after getting trained from the Dr. Ambedkar Education and Employment Training Centre across the State pooled in money for the security deposit for K. Samuelraj, general secretary, Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front, and G. Anandan, vice-president of the Front for leading the movement and organising the classes, said Mr. Prince. Both are CPI (M) candidates, he added.
