Several students and teachers from various central universities here took out a rally under the banner of Federation of Central Universities Teachers’ Association (FEDCUTA) from Mandi House to Parliament Street, demanding the withdrawal of the proposed New Education Policy (NEP).
“The NEP makes a mockery of public trust in higher education and research by removing all standards of quality and equity from public-funded institutions,” the group said. Speakers at the rally, including leaders from political parties such as D. Raja (CPI), Dilip Pandey (AAP), Ashok Tanwar (Congress) and those from universities such as DUTA president Rajib Ray and former JNUSU president N. Balaji, attacked the government for the increasing privatisation of higher education.
The protesters said, “The NEP limits regulation to an outcome-based approach, which would empower private bodies such as a board of governors to run universities on commercial lines, appoint teachers through fear or favour, deny democratic participation, hike students’ fees at will.” A precursor to the NEP can be seen in the “authoritarian fee hikes” that have prompted massive unrest among students in JNU and IITs, they added. Attacking the Union government, the FEDCUTA said it was trying to pull out of the responsibility of funding education and appointing regular faculty through this policy. It also argued that students from marginalised sections would be hit the hardest as it would make “quality education and research unaffordable.”
