By IANS,
Agartala : The Left Front-ruled states of West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura will not adopt the educational reforms outlined by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, a senior Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader said here Saturday.
“In the name of educational reforms, the UPA government has been trying to privatise and centralise the education system,” a CPI-M central committee member told IANS, on condition of anonymity.
The centre can not take a unilateral decision to reform the country’s educational system, ignoring the states, the CPI-M leader added.
Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal Thursday announced a slew of measures, including optional class 10 board exams, accreditation agencies for schools, free education and private sector involvement in primary learning.
However, the proposed reforms had drawn criticism from the Left.
“Before any kind of educational reforms, the union government should take the views of state governments, educationists, guardians, students, intellectuals besides the teachers’ and students’ organisations,” Tripura School Education Minister Tapan Chakraborty.
“Any kind of sudden and hurriedly taken decision might affect the future of students and country’s educational method,” he told media persons here.
CPI-M’s students wing, the Students Federation of India (SFI) and Tripura Government Teachers’ Association and Tripura Non-Government Teachers’ Association, both frontal organisations of the CPI-M, have also opposed the new educational reforms of the UPA government.
“For the sake of educational reforms, the UPA government has been trying to allow extensively carrying out educational business in India by the foreign educational institutions,” SFI general secretary Hritabrata Banerjee said.
However, he suggested reforming the examination system in a scientific manner.
West Bengal’s Left Front government has also criticised the proposed educational reforms dubbing them as efforts aimed at “absolute centralisation and privatisation” of India’s education system.
“The proposed measures outlined by the union HRD minister would take education beyond the reach of students belonging to ordinary and poor families,” West Bengal Secondary Education Minister Partha Dey told reporters in Kolkata Thursday.