Former Madras High Court judge K Chandru on Friday said democracy and secularism are in danger and teachers should take the responsibility of protecting them.
Addressing the inaugural session of the three-day National Conference of School Teachers Federation of India (STFI) here, Mr. Chandru said, in order to further their selfish objectives, the ruling parties are in gross violation of constitutional norms.
The former judge accused the Center of completely ignoring the recommendation of the Kothari Commission, in which the states were given the responsibility of formulating a new education policy.
He said that to impose its agenda, the BJP government has come up with an education policy which has many flaws.
Making a dissenting note on the National Education Policy-2020, speakers at the conference demanded its repeal, arguing that it would lead to centralization and commercialization of the education system, besides promoting “communal disturbance”.
Federation National President Abhijit Mukherjee presided over the Open House, which was followed by a rally from Nirmala Convent Road to Benz Circle.
MLC KS Lakshmana Rao said the Center had brought in the NEP without discussing it with the states, and the advocacy policies in the NEP were against the democratic and secular spirit of the Constitution.
Federation’s national general secretary CN Bharti said that the current shortcomings of the education system will be discussed in the three-day conference. The education system of a country like India, where people speak multiple languages and follow different cultures, should promote the concept of unity in diversity.
Harikrishnan, joint secretary of the federation, said that the BJP government at the Center, ignoring the fact that more than two crore children are out of school, raised slogans of self-reliant India and digital India. He said that the Kerala government has been appointing teachers from time to time to ensure that the children do not suffer.
STFI Vice President M. Sanyukta stressed on the need to implement the Right to Education Act in letter and spirit. He said that the attempt to remove the lessons of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh from the school curriculum was unfortunate.
MLC Shaik Sabzi pulled up the state government for imposing Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) on them after scrapping the old pension scheme.
STFI Secretary N Aruna Kumari and federation leaders from different states participated.