Leaders of student organisations affiliated to Left parties on Tuesday staged protests and courted arrest at different places as part of a State-wide bandh against the policies being implemented by the State government in the education sector.
The student leaders demanded immediate steps for repeal of certain components of the National Education Policy (NEP) arguing that they were detrimental to the interests of students and teachers.
Student Federation of India’s State secretary A. Ashok, Progressive Democratic Student Union State president A. Ravichandra and others led the protest at BSRK Municipal Corporation School. They were arrested and shifted to Machavaram police station.
They said that even after 40 days of the reopening of schools, all the children were yet to receive the textbooks. The falling educational standards under the YSRCP rule was a serious cause of concern, they said, adding that the proposed merger of Classes III to V in the primary schools with high schools and implementation of GOs 84, 85, 117 and 128 would cause enormous harm to the interests of teachers and students.
They also wanted the government to enhance mess charges and cosmetic allowance for college students who lived in hostels and immediate release of funds under schemes like Jagananna Vidya Deevena and Vasathi Deevena.
They alleged that the purpose of Amma Vodi scheme was defeated with the government extending financial assistance of ₹13,000 per annum to children in corporate schools who could afford to pay an annual fee of ₹3 lakh.
The student leaders demanded effective measures to check gross violation of the rulebook by private and corporate educational institutions and immediate steps to fill the large number of vacant teacher posts in government schools.
They said the State government should drop policies that were being introduced as part of reforms in the education sector and focus on concrete measures that could contribute to healthy grown of the school education set-up.
