In protest against the dismal conditions of Government schools of the State and hegemony of the private school owners, the activists of Uttarakhand Mahila Morcha (UMM) would undertake a Vidhan Sabha march and Dharna on Tuesday. Many organisations have extended their support to the proposed protest march. The speakers participating in a seminar on status of education at Saheed Sthal on Sunday in Collectorate were unanimous in their views that the State Government should take immediate measures to rein the private schools of the State.
The President of Uttarakhand Mahila Morcha, Kamla Pant said that the State Government should order an immediate moratorium on increase of fees of the private schools in the ensuing academic session. She said, “Many private schools of the State in blatant violation of the laws increase their annual fees by 40 per cent.” Pant was of the opinion that the Government should ensure a plan according to which the fees structure of the schools is determined in a transparent manner.
She said the quality of education in the Government schools is declining at a fast rate due to which the parents are not sending their wards in these schools. The data suggests that in the urban areas the enrollment in the Government schools has dropped to almost 35 per cent. Pant said the Education Minister Mantri Prasad Naithani’s recent statement in which he stated that the Government schoolteachers should compulsorily send their wards in the Government schools, should be implemented to all those (including the Ministers) who are drawing their salaries from the public exchequer.
The speakers were of the view that the private schools should explain the propriety of the fees they are charging to the parents. Those who spoke on the occasion included Dehradun Bar Association president Manmohan Kandwal, general secretary Anil Gandhi, general secretary of Garhwal Sabha Roshan Dhasmana, general secretary of Rajkeeya Shikshak Sangh SS Chauhan, chairman of Rural litigation Entitlement Kendra (RlEK) Avdesh Kaushal, Rajiv Kothari of CPI, AAP leader Sanjay Bhatt and educationalist Verendra Painyuli.