Withdraw “offers” made to WTO on higher education, AIFRTE urges Centre

All India Forum for Right to Education (AIFRTE) organising secretary D. Ramesh Patnaik has demanded withdrawal of the “offers” made by the Union government to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on trade in the higher education sector.

“Education cannot be treated as service and brought under General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)”, he said while leading an AIFRTE Zonal yatra which reached Ongole on Wednesday.

Students under the banner of Progressive Democratic Students Union (PDSU) and All India Students Federation and teachers affiliated to Andhra Pradesh Teachers Federation (1938) took out a march to express solidarity with the AIFRTE activists.

Students led by PDSU State general secretary K. Mallikarjun and AISF leader Sk. Karimullah raised slogans against alleged “privatisation and saffronisation” of education by the NDA regime.

“It is high time the Centre takes back the offers made to the WTO before going to the next stage of giving an irrevocable commitment,” Mr Patnaik said.

Asserting that “education is a social entitlement and a constitutional right of every citizen,” he said “education, if made a tradable service, will result not only in denial of education opportunities to the vast masses but also cause degradation of concept and content of education as also destruction of pedagogical practices.”

Pressing for take over of all private educational institutions, he said right to education would be meaningful only by setting up a fully public funded Common School System in the country and strengthening of all State-funded universities and colleges.