Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad
National Executive Council Meeting
24-27 May, 2012 – Ernakulam (Kerala)
Resolution No. 1 :
Present Educational Scenario in the Country
While on the one hand the present government of the country is immersed neck deep in corruption and engaged in saving its corrupt leaders, on the other hand it has adopted an apathetic and irresponsible behavior towards higher education which has led to rampant increase in commercialization of higher education.
Offices of Chancellors and Vice-chancellors have become dens of corruption. The chain of private universities and private educational institutions conducting business in the garb of societies are not only exploiting poor and meritorious students but also continuously lowering the standards of education. The 3 years tenure of the present government is marked by large scale appeasement of minority sectional interests. The apathy towards higher education and its policies of encouraging rampant commercialization is resulting in deterioration of quality. Entrance examinations are being tailored to benefit the coaching business. There is a sharp decrease in the quality of research and increase in incidents of exploitation of research students. But after completion of 3 years in office the Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal is shamelessly proclaiming himself as a great educational reformer. ABVP strongly condemns the anti education, anti student, and procommercialisation policies of the central government.
This National Executive Council of ABVP welcomes the Supreme Court’s verdict of reserving 25% seats for poor students in private unaided schools under the provisions of the Right to Education Act so that students from all sections of society can be provided quality school education. It demands that the central
government should implement this provision immediately and also demands the government to submit a petition to the Court for implementing the provision of reservation of 25% seats for poor students in unaided minority institutions too. Though the government claims it will increase the enrollment in higher education from 10% to 30% however it has only allotted 42,000 crore rupees per year for higher education in the 12th Five Year Plan which is much less than the sum expected. The HRD Ministry had asked for 73,000 crore rupees per year for higher education. As per intentional statistics USA spends 2.2 to 2.5% of its National income, Japan spends 1.2%, China spends 1.2% on higher education as compared to India where only a mere amount of 0.5% is spent on higher education which is much less than what is needed. This shows the apathetic attitude of the HRD Ministry as well as the central government towards higher education.
It is being realized in country that the present central government and many state government are intentionally framing policies which are encouraging private universities and private educational institutions, as a result poor meritorious students are being deprived of higher education. Courses which are selling in the market are being only conducted and this education is being limited to those with money. The ideal concept of university education and many subjects which are socially relevant are being ignored. In view of the socioeconomic onditions in the country, reservation policies like SC / ST / OBC are being hampered in these institutions.
There is no provision of scholarships for deserving students in these universities. The Vidyarthi Parishad demands that reservations as per constitutional provisions be implemented in these universities. Some days back a private news channel has exposed the scam of granting prestigious degrees like Ph. D. and M. Tech. by private universities in Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and some other states in contravention of rules and regulations, in lieu of charging a heavy sum of money. Due to lack of strong legal provisions there are increasing instances of irregular and autocratic practices in these institutes involved in commercialisation of education leading to exploitation of students and turning education into a farce. This National Executive demands that concrete laws should be made to stop commercialisation of education by private and deemed universities, to improve qualitative education and thus stop exploitation of students.
ABVP also demands an immediate ban on swindling by these universities in the name of distance education. ABVP express its concern over corruption under the name of affiliation, by office bearers and members of higher education monitoring institutes. Arrest of AICTE member and some teachers by CBI in Madhya
Pradesh exposed the corruption under the name of affiliation. This NEC of ABVP welcomes the decision to establish 8 new IITs in the country but it demands immediate filling up of the 1559 teaching posts lying vacant in the already existing IITs and immediate provision of proper infrastructure in the newly opened institutions.
This National Executive of ABVP considers that the decision of the central govt. to separate the Institute of Technology (IT) under the Banaras Hindu University from BHU in the name of converting it to IIT BHU is a conspiracy to divide a historical educational institution which is providing holistic education according to Bharatiya thought. BHU has a tremendous contribution in the development of modern India but it appears that the present central government wants to destroy the dream of Mahamana Madan Mohan Malaviya to provide for all branches of education within one campus instead of upgrading the institute while keeping it within BHU, by making available adequate funds and other resources. On one hand the central government is talking of implementing the Yashpal Committee Report which recommends incorporation of various streams of education within one institution and on the other it is destroying the heritage of BHU which is doing precisely this. ABVP warns the government against going ahead with this conspiracy. This National Executive of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad demands that entrance exams for IIT JEE and higher educational streams should be freed from the coaching business and the pre-2005 AI JEE procedure in IIT JEE should be started again. The Parishad feels that the changes brought by the HRD Ministry in 2005 in IIT JEE has encouraged and increased the unfair practices of the coaching institutes. The Parishad does not agree with the Ramaswami Committee recommendation to take into consideration the +2 marks because different boards have different standards of evaluation and it is very difficult to evolve a common yardstick for judging the students. ABVP supports the autonomy of institutions such as IITs which have a clean record of conducting national level entrance tests.
ABVP feels that Bharat will not be in a leading position in the world unless it ensures high standards in research. Thus this National Executive Council of ABVP demands that the government allocate more funds for research activities so that the country will benefit from the research output of its youngsters. ABVP demands to rule out irregularities in disbursing scholarships of research students and also to start new schemes. This NEC of ABVP welcomes the provision by the central government to provide for compulsory internship of one year in a rural area for students in the MBBS course. ABVP feels that along with benefits for the rural population, these students will be introduced to the real conditions prevailing in these areas and will also gain hands-on experience. This NEC of ABVP appeals to the students, youth and educationists to seriously deliberate on the state of education in the country and compel the administration to take proper steps in this regard.
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