Teachers protest against PPP-model schools
Prakash Kumar, NEW DELHI, Mar 17, 2012, DHNS:
Primary school teachers have opposed the government’s decision to set up model schools under public private partnership (PPP) framework, saying that the move will further commercialize education making it a costly affair for children belonging to weaker sections of the society.
The Human Resource Development Ministry, which plans to set up a total of 2,500 model schools at block levels in PPP mode, has already initiated efforts to open 500 such schools by inviting expression of interests from private entity including corporate.
“Schools to be opened under the PPP mode will be out of the reach of children from poverty stricken family and under privileged sections of the society as tuition fee, cost of uniforms and other requirements will be beyond their capacity,” S Eswaran, secretary general of All India Primary Teachers’ Federation (AIPTF), said .
Private gain
It will transform education from public good to “private gain” as private players will do no public service. “Education has become and industry.
Those who have opened schools or colleges are earning a lot of profit from their ventures,” AIPTF president Ram Pal Singh said.
India has already made “major strides” towards achieving the goal of providing quality education for all.
The net enrollment ratio in class-I has reached 97 per cent.
Need of the hour
“The need of the hour is not to open schools under PPP framework but augment teaching work force and infrastructure facilities in government run schools.
There should be at least one teacher for every class in a school”, he said.
The government cannot abdicate its responsibility to provide quality universal elementary education to all irrespective of their caste, creed and financial capacity, he added.
The AIPTF members and activists, staging a demonstration in the national capital, also demanded the government to stop recruitment of “non-professionals” as teachers.
It sought the government bringing existing untrained para-teachers to the “main stream” by providing sufficient training and regular pay scale to them.
AIPTF is an apex body of 24 state primary teachers’ association affiliates.
News : Deccan Herald ( 17.3.12)
Source : http://www.deccanherald.com/content/235278/teachers-protest-against-ppp-model.html
