After making a strong plea to fulfil their demands through a public meeting held at Karimnagar in October, the State Joint Action Committee of private educational institutes has said it will support only those political parties that include in their manifestos a strategy to sort out issues concerning private schools and colleges.
“We had not experienced this kind of governance during Congress or TDP rule. The TRS used Jayashankar and Kaloji names in the movement. They are now replaced by Swamyjis and Vaasthu rules,” one speaker said at the ‘athmagourava (self-respect) sabha’ held here on Saturday.
With an attendance of more than 5,000 teachers that had come from various districts in their school buses, the meeting venue, N.G. College grounds, and the adjacent lanes were choked.
The JAC, a union of Telangana Private Junior Colleges Management Association (TPJCMA), Telangana Recognized Schools Management Association (TRSMA) and other representations said nearly 80% of education-providers in the State were private institutions, and about 5 lakh teachers were directly connected with them.
“Yet, we continue to be harassed by State policies, branded thieves in the name of private education mafia, and forced to work with meagre salaries and infrastructure.”
There was a difference between private and corporate institutions when it came to fee structure, and between private and government schools if it was quality of education, they said.
Representatives K. Papi Reddy and V. Narender Reddy said their chief demand was revision of tuition fee for Intermediate, degree and PG colleges, in keeping with norms of viability, continuation of fee reimbursement scheme, grant of permanent recognition to institutes more than 10 years old, health cards and extension of 2BHK scheme.
Several members who spoke at the event opined that gurukula education, based on caste segregation, was irrational and bound to result in unhealthy trends in society.
