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Journalism of Courage
FOR Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and his Finance Minister Surinder Singla, an innoucous-sounding proposal to privatise school education in the state is threatening to become a major political embarrassment, with even party colleagues openly voicing their opposition to the idea.
Even as the government reportedly involved some leading industrialists of the state on the subject, the latest blow to the proposal came from Deputy Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal. Recently described by Amarinder as chief of a committee set up to consider privatisation of education, Bhattal said on return from a foreign trip that her panel had nothing to do with privatisation.
The Bhattal committee was formed last year, with a stated aim to study and thereby strengthen the education system. There was no proposal to privatise school education at that time. However, in September last year, when the committee met for the first time, Singla8212;one of the members8212;reportedly suggested that school education could be privatised to improve it.
It was also suggested that teachers be hired on contract to fill up vacancies in the government schools. Committee members, however, weren8217;t too enthused by the proposal, and nobody paid much attention to it.
However, in April this year, the chief minister announced at the inauguration of a Ludhiana school run by the Bharti Mittal Group that his government was planng to privatise schooling and that some leading industrialists had already evinced interest in it.
It was enough to trigger a furore in political circles; now agitations are being planned by various groups. Earlier this month, a visit by a Delhi-based NGO contracted by a leading Ludhiana-based industrialist set off statewide protests led by parents and unemployed teachers, and fuelled fears that the government was trying to wheedle in the policy through the back door8212;even though the CM had stated the previous week that the privatisation plans had been abandoned.
At a function in Ludhiana last week, Amarinder claimed that the idea was 8216;8216;misunderstood8217;8217;, as there was no plan to sell off the schools or the land, and the industrialists only wanted to do their 8216;8216;social duty8217;8217;.
That there are no takers for this line is evident from the line-up of agitations planned by parents and unemployed teachers8217; unions. Even the state unit of the CPIM has warned the government against taking any such step.
State Education Minister Harnam Das Johar was one of the first to criticise the idea. Though he has been quiet on the matter of late, Punjab School Education Board chairman H S Sidhu told The Sunday Express, 8216;8216;Privatisation will only result in exploitation of teachers, while the fee structure in rural schools will begin to match that of urban private schools.8217;8217;
Incidentally, the government is yet to seek the opinion of the board or the education department on the matter.
Eminent educationists, requesting anonymity, too, question the rationale of the proposal. 8216;8216;They are defeating the very purpose of a welfare state by bringing in private operators,8217;8217; said an educationist, who has been associated with government projects.
Interestingly, there are also no takers for the new 8216;8216;misunderstood8217;8217; line or 8216;8216;social duty8217;8217; excuse. 8216;8216;If that is the case, then how come almost all of them have their own schools which charge very high fees and take in only a select few?8217;8217; asked a critic of the proposal. 8216;8216;They could use the same premise to educate children free of charge.8217;8217;
