Politicization

CABE Politicization of Education
Accusing the UPA government of "politicising education", the educa-tion ministers of BJP-ruled states walked out of the Cen-tral Advisory Board on Educa-tion (CABE) meeting on Tues-day. "We are with you if you want to discuss education. But
the agenda of this conference is to get our seal of approval to the Common Minimum Programme. It is arbitrary and un-constitutional," Rajasthan Ed-ucation Minister Ghanshyam Tiwari, who led his colleagues from other BJP-ruled states in the walk-out, said here.
"The changes being effected in the history text books are not only violative of the Supreme Court order but are also contrary to the President's views on the subject," he said before staging the walk out. Mr Tiwari also said BJP governments in the states
would not implement the Centre's decision to withdraw history and social science text-books published by the National
Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT). Politically motivated Describing the boycott and walk out of the education min-isters of the BJP-ruled states as "politically motivated", Mr Singh rejected the criticism of being "arbitrary and one-sided" in an important nation-al issue like education. "It was NDA which, instead of harmonising different schools of thought sought to impose their ideology on oth-ers. The earlier governments including the NDA had not called a meeting of CABE for the last ten years," he said. Stating that his government has already undertaken action on the issue of "de-saffronisation of history textbooks, reversing the trend of commu-nalisation and restoring autonomy of the institutions of higher learning" he said the UPA government had recog-nised the existence of different ideologies and wanted to go forward by harmonising them.

- BJP-ruled states defy Centre, not to withdraw textbooks, Deccan Herald, 11/08/2004 N20 /eldoc/n20_/11aug04dh1.pdf

The defeat of the BJP in the election of 2004 is not the end of communal ideology or the efforts to inculcate it in society. On the other hand, if the reports are true, communalisation through education is likely to intensify. The joint secretary-general of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Shyam Gupta, recently stated that a project is on the anvil to reach out to 100,000 tribal villages through a four-point programme of education, health, economic progress and self-respect. As a part of this agenda, about 1.5 lakh single-teacher schools are being set up in tribal villages, with RSS cadres employed as teachers. Since there would be no government control over these schools, it is certain that they would indulge in the Hindutva's pedagogy of hate. It is no secret that the Sangh Parivar has already organised a parallel system of education through the schools controlled or managed by it. The addition of these new schools would further extend its reach as well as reinforce it.

The Nobel-Laureate and Master, Trinity College, Cambridge, Amartya Sen, today denounced the Union Government's reported move to impart religious values as part of primary education. Chances were high that this move would impart a sectarian attitude based on religion, he said.

Addressing the media after a two-day workshop on `Education, Equity and Human Security', co-hosted by the UNICEF,
Harvard University, the Commission on Human Security and Pratichi Trust, Prof. Sen said religious self-esteem, in practice, was often misdirected to a sectarian outlook which might bring more harm than good.

On the Centre's move to change the educational content and curriculum, he said ``there is a danger that some political groups may manipulate the educational content and curriculum in schools for subversive purposes. Openness of the curriculum and a secular and inclusive approach that cultivates reasoning and scrutiny can be central to the role of education to promote human security''.

- Amartya Sen decries `sectarian outlook' to education, The Hindu, 05/01/2002, N20 /eldoc/n20_/amartya_sen.html

Inaugurating "Akshay Patra", the mid-day meal programme for needy children on Sun-day, launched by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in 40 rural schools in Bangalore District here, Dr. Joshi
said he had suggested to the Union Finance Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha, for the imposi-tion of three per cent cess on education. The Cabinet would discuss the matter, he said. A programme to distribute clothes to chil-dren was also planned by the Centre, he said. The future of the nation would be judged of knowledge. "India should become a knowl-edge society," he said. About 60 million children could not got to schools due to poverty and undernourish-ment. Nutrition and education should go hand-in-hand. He urged the non-governmen-tal organisations and citizens to take up the challenge of providing food for every hungry child in the country.
Lauding the efforts of ISKCON to alleviate the suffering of the underprivileged, Dr. Joshi said spiritual heads in the country were doing their best to provide food for the underprivi-leged...

The Minister launched the ISKCON tem-ple's website, http://www.iskconbangalore.org and a website on the "Akshay Patra" programme, http://www.akshaypatra.org.

- 'Children below 6 to be enrolled in school by 2003', Hindu, 13/11/2000, /eldoc/n21_/13nov00h1.pdf

Politicization of education Commercialisation of education

- Basheer defends new education scheme, P.K.Surendran, Times of India, 31/12/1994, /eldoc/n00_/31dec94toi1.pdf

Communalisation of Education GS
A controversial decision to make primary students fill in a village-wise religion-based questionnaire has raised suspicions about the Gujarat government’s “hidden agenda”.

The Opposition Congress has dubbed the census in rural areas as the BJP’s “attempt to disturb communal harmony”.

Education minister Anandiben Patel denied any religion-based survey in village schools. She, however, admitted students are being asked to fill in a questionnaire, but argued the exercise is aimed at making them aware of their social and cultural surroundings.

The four-page questionnaire seeks to find out how many people belong to which religion in a village, the festivals that are celebrated, the number of religious places and their historical importance.

The survey is being conducted as part of the government’s district primary education project’s documentation exercise in each of the state’s 18,000 villages. District education officials have been directed to send the details in the form of a “village diary”.