Education, Careers & Professional News
Student organisations stage demonstrations
Source
The Hindu
Date
2005-01-11
Information
The Education Ministers Conference here on Monday triggered demonstrations from three students organisations — Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), All India Democratic Students Organisation (AIDSO) and Students’ Federation of India (SFI) — all demanding Central legislation on professional education.
A large number of ABVP workers from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala took out a procession and held a public meeting at Banappa Park. The ABVP National General Secretary, K.N. Raghunandan, said apart from bringing in comprehensive legislation on professional education, the Centre should set up a Fee Regulation Authority and an Education Development Bank.
He urged the Centre not to permit foreign direct investment in education and establishment of those foreign universities, which were not recognised by the Governments in their own countries.
Earlier, the police arrested 60 ABVP activists, including the Karnataka State Organising Secretary, Ravi Kumar, and the Andhra Pradesh State Secretary, Manthri Sreenivas, when they tried to stage a dharna in front of Sir Puttanna Chetty Town Hall. They were later released.
The AIDSO activists too took out a procession and staged a rally at the Bannappa Park. The AIDSO President, M.N. Sriram, urged the Union Government to promulgate an ordinance and follow it up with “pro-people” legislation to allot seats based on merit in private professional colleges.
He said the Government should fix a fee that would be within the reach of the common man, and not yield to the lobby of private college managements. The Central law should be applicable to under-graduate and post-graduate courses, he added.
H.S. Doreswamy, freedom fighter, alleged that the Government encouraged the private educational institutions’ lobby. The Government should pass an ordinance in favour of students, if not the students should protest in a big way, he said.
The SUCI Secretary, K. Radhakrishna, felt the CPI(M), which supported the UPA Government, could help bring in legislation although the BJP did not try for it earlier. “Today their affiliated organisations such as SFI and ABVP are protesting only for namesake,” he said.
But the SFI leaders recalled that they were the first to press for a Central legislation last year. SFI organised two processions in the city, attended by about 3,000 students. Its all India president, K.K. Ragesh, the state unit president K.S. Lakshmi, and the secretary, R. Ramakrishna, were present.
Addressing a gathering at the Government Arts College grounds, Ms. Lakshmi, said the Centre should come out with legislation to empower the States to control professional educational institutions and private autonomous universities. She wanted the Centre to allocate 10 per cent of the Union Budget. The States should set aside 30 per cent of their budget for education.
She said all the seats in the professional colleges should be filled through the Common Entrance Test (CET) conducted by the Government. The SFI leader also demanded that the Government increase the intake in government engineering and medical colleges and start new colleges.
The leaders of the ABVP, AIDSO and the SFI met Union Human Resource Development Minister, Arjun Singh, and submitted memorandums listing their demands. They urged him to discuss the issues highlighted by them at the two-day conference.