Halt privatisation of education for ensuring quality education
Primary school teachers of Delhi demonstrated at Rajghat on October 21, under the banner of the All Delhi Primary Teachers’ Union. Young teachers of the union participated in the demonstration. Teachers of the N.D.M.C and Delhi Cantonment Board also participated in the demonstration alongside teachers of 3 Corporations.
Halt privatisation of education for ensuring quality education
Primary school teachers of Delhi demonstrated at Rajghat on October 21, under the banner of the All Delhi Primary Teachers’ Union. Young teachers of the union participated in the demonstration. Teachers of the N.D.M.C and Delhi Cantonment Board also participated in the demonstration alongside teachers of 3 Corporations.
This demonstration was organised to demand: correction to the deteriorating conditions of the municipal schools because of insufficient number of teachers, halting the privatisation of education, filling vacancies for teachers’ posts immediately and for not designating non-teaching duties to the teachers, etc.
The slogans on the many placards that were held at the demonstration were: Deterioration of conditions in schools is not acceptable, recruit more employees! Teachers should not be made to carry out non-teaching work! Dream of compulsory universal education will be fulfilled when privatisation of schools is halted! Privatisation of electricity leads to poor power services, privatisation of education leads to poor education! How can education be freed from problems when the political leaders are bent on selling it like a commodity?
Speakers addressing the meeting pointed that it has become the guiding policy of the government to privatise education; the government is bent on discrediting government schools by not appointing teachers to fill vacant posts. They pointed out that there is an attempt to make teachers mere clerks, by taking them off teaching duties. The government is blaming teachers for the deteriorating standards in government schools when it is itself to blame. This in fact has been the case all services which are being privatised.
The speakers charged the corrupt educational department was playing with the future of children. It is because of privatisation of education that new appointments of teachers are not being made. Children in government schools face a dark future due to the paucity of teachers, and the government is blaming teachers when the truth is that the government is bent on damaging the quality of education rather than improving it.
Speakers raised the question as to why there has been no move in the last 5 years to make any appointments when there are 8000 vacancies in primary schools? The teachers said that the government has been very indifferent to appointment of teachers and bent on spoiling the education of children. Teachers had demonstrated on July 10, 2013 before the “Selection Board under the Delhi government” on the demand of filling vacancies, but there has been no move till date to address the demand. The teachers demanded that all vacant posts be immediately filled.
The teachers pointed out that teachers were asked to various non-teaching tasks such as census survey, economic survey and for making aadhar cards, voter cards, etc. This has had an unfavourable impact on primary education.
Among those who addressed the demonstration were Rajendra Dabas (Principal General Secretary), Giriraj Sharma, Arvind Mishra, Devendra Singh Nayan, Sanjay Maurya, Suchitra Dohan, Deepak Pant and Seema Mathur. Neel Kamal Aggrawal presided over the meeting.
The main demands raised by the teachers were:
- The existing teachers on contract be regularised by the Corporation.
- Halt the privatisation and commodification of education;
- Provide cashless services like CGHS;
- Stop mandating teachers to carry out non-teaching tasks like BLO duty for various surveys, aadhar cards, distribution of refreshments.
Teachers demanded of the government in their petition that the “Services Selection Board under the Delhi Government” be ordered to announce examination dates immediately.
In the end, the All Delhi Primary Teachers’ Union presented their petition to the Prime Minister.