The 45th State conference of the All India Students Federation (AISF) began here on Friday with national general secretary Abhay Taksal demanding that foreign universities should not be allowed to set up shop in the country.
He also made an impassioned appeal to the Government to make sincere efforts to check privatisation of education and improve educational access to the poor.
During the Quit India movement, Mr. Taksal said, the then Congress party had given a call for banning all foreign goods and advocated Indian products. But now, the same Congress was selling the country in the name of Foreign Direct Investments in all spheres including education. Senior CPI leader K. Ramakrishna too called for an end to the privatisation in the education sector.
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There was touch of irony to the conference and what the leaders spoke as TDP MLA from the Puttaparthy constituency and educationist, Palle Raghunatha Reddy, has been invited to address the delegates session on Saturday. This notwithstanding the fact that he has been running private educational institutions of all types in the district. Meanwhile, none of the State-level leaders attended the inaugural functuion.