Expressing its strong reservations over the foreign university bill, CPI on Tuesday said that the UPA government was creating “another SEZ - Special Education Zone” which would harm the interests of weaker sections and lead to commercialisation of education.
“This is the surest way to exclude a vast majority of weaker sections, leading to unprecedented disparity in the field of education. Education is going to be an issue where a new confrontation of haves and have-nots is going to emerge,” CPI National Secretary D. Raja said.
The government’s attempt would also result in education becoming a commodity and commercialisation and privatisation of it, he said, adding no foreign university was going to come to India without a profit motive.
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“In what way our institutions like IITs and IIMs are inferior to some of the foreign educational institutions,” Mr. Raja said adding that if the government was really worried about providing quality education, it should expand facilities in the country.
The Foreign Educational Institutions (Regulation of Entry and Operation) Bill, 2010, which has been approved by the Cabinet, seeks to allow foreign education providers to set up campuses in the country and offer degrees.