Representatives of minority community-run educational institutions in Union Territory on Saturday took out rally against new education policy proposed by the Union government and urged the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development not to implement the policy in the present form.
Under the aegis of archdiocese of Pondicherry, heads of Catholic religious congregations, member institutions of Pondicherry Catholic Educational Institutions and other institutions took out the rally from Petit Seminar Higher Secondary School towards the Head Post office.
At the end of the rally, they submitted a memorandum to the office of Lieutenant Governor. They said the draft national educational policy is full of inconsistencies and procedural improprieties. “It militates against secularism, plurality and federalism which form the basic structure of the Constitution. Hence it needs to be rejected in toto by all secular and democratic forces. The document cannot form the basis for any serious discussion,” said A.Arulanandam, vice-president of Pondicherry Catholic Educational Association in the memorandum.
They also demanded that the Union government desist from imposing Sanskrit as the third language. M. Swaminathan, Secretary of Pondicherry Catholic Educational Association said the Draft New Education Policy has to respect the Constitutional rights conferred upon the minority educational institutions in the light of the various judgements of Supreme Court. “The catholic Christian community strongly supports the demand of Tamil Nadu government to bring the subject of education again under State list removing from the concurrent list to strengthen the federal governance of the country,” Mr. Swaminathan said.
At the end of the rally, representatives submitted a memorandum to the office of the LG
