Don’t invite FDI, just hike budget for education, SFI delegates to tell PM

Moving ahead with its opposition to FDI in education and foreign as well as private universities, a delegation of the Students Federation of India, the CPI(M)’s student wing and Politburo member Sitaram Yechury will meet Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on January 22.

“The Centre should be increasing the budgetary allocation for education to six per cent of GDP as promised in the Common Minimum Programme of the UPA Government instead of inviting FDI to education, which will act against national interest,” SFI national general secretary K K Ragesh said. Terming foreign and private universities an “onslaught of imperialistic design”, he said the government should ensure “intellectual self reliance”.

The delegation will also press for reservation in all educational institutions. The other demands include constituting a national education commission and committees against sexual harassment in campuses across the country. The SFI has collected five million signatures from across the country, to be submitted to the PM.