G. Sukumaran Nair, general secretary, Nair Service Society (NSS), has criticised the State government on its education policy, which according to him, would tear down the edifice of public education structure which had served the people immensely in its social development, so far.
Addressing the Nair Prathinidhi Sammelan at Perunna, Mr. Nair said the NSS had disagreements with the government mainly with regard to policies in the education sector and the Devaswoms.
In the education sector, the policy not only encouraged the self-financing institutions, but also made it a point to bring in regulations to strangle aided schools, he said. Instead, strict action should have been taken against managements which engaged in corrupt practices. He alleged that many of those who managed the Education Department had neither the mental make up to support the aided sector nor prior experience regarding education sector. Rules and regulations brought in by them had forced the NSS to file eight cases against the government, he said.
On the Devaswom issue, Mr. Nair alleged that the government was being influenced by the richer sections among the reserved community. So far, the government had not decided against entrusting the PSC with the recruitment to Devaswoms. It could not bring the Act for constitution of a unified Devaswom Recruitment Board.
He also came down on reserved communities who were angling for additional 18 per cent, in addition to the 32 per cent reservation they had in Devaswom jobs. The 18 per cent reservation, which was otherwise enjoyed by non-Hindu communities in government jobs, should have been reserved for the economically backward sections in the non-reserved communities among the Hindus. However, the reserved communities were fighting this proposal also, he said.
