2 Years of Modi Regime; Education Under Attack

India’s education sector is under constant attack from the NDA government, which is trying to convert the centers of learning to a saffron bastion. In addition, the current government is also following the same neo-liberal agenda of the UPA in the education sector. The government is also pushing very hard to corporatize India’s education sector and is also trying to bring in foreign direct investment in education. This is aimed at closing the avenue of learning to the marginalized sections of the society. Apart from this the current regime is also rabidly pushing the agenda of saffronisation of education. The change in curriculum, scrapping of important figures like Jawaharlal Nehru and motivated appointments in educational institutions have been done systematically to kill intellectual rationality. The current regime doesn’t want people to think logically, and wants to push its agenda of homogenous society with the dominance of the upper-class. The removal of freedom struggle from the curriculum has been done because they themselves have a very dubious role in the struggle for independence. Newsclick interviewed Nandita Narain, President DUTA and FEDCUTA on two years of the NDA regime and it's impact on education sector.

Rough Transcript:

Pranjal: Hello and welcome to Newsclick. The second year of Modi regime is coming to an end and Newsclick is doing a series of interviews on different sectors which are effecting the common masses, education being one of them. To discuss education sector in the second year of Modi regime or say the two years of the Modi government, we have with us Nandita Narain the FEDCUTA and DUTA President. Hello Nandita, welcome to Newsclick. Before we go to the further points, how do you assess the two years of the current regime and what impact it has on the education sector as whole.

Nandita Narain (NN): Well, I would say that there is a continuity from the policies of the earlier government and there is an acceleration also of the policies that we have been struggling against in the higher education sector. Teachers from across the country had been alerting people of the country to the dangers of corporatisation and privatization, reduction in funding of higher education under the pressure not only of the local corporate sector but also the international lobby of the non-state players which through WTO and other organizations have been pressurizing countries to cut back on essential areas like education, particularly higher education and health. We were hoping that there would be some slowing down of that process because one of the reasons why I feel that the Congress Government lost was it lost trust of the people altogether and was following this very anti-people policies. It was getting obvious to the people. Sometime for example, we in Delhi University we felt that there will be some democratic response to our please and we had a role back of the 4 year under-graduate programme which was the part of that whole restructuring programme under the earlier government for corporatization. But within the few months, they brought back exactly the same policies which were the UPA policies. And probably, they were policies which were espoused even by the NDA before the UPA. Both these groupings have been very elitist and very pro-coporate and over a period of time they have really undermined the welfare of the Indian people. This particular government is using I mean, I feel given the political leadership the other agenda which is against our constitution against the idols of secularism, social justice and so on have been further undermined and they have been used to facilitate the shift to corporotization faster. That is you divide the movements by a very rabidly communal agenda encouraging violence and also a particular kind of discourse which alienates ----. So it is a very dangerous combination combination. One the whole communal agenda which is pushing towards the Hindu Rashtra which will satisfy a large masses of people that they brainwashed in this particular direction. And the other is the corporate agenda which is selling the interest of the country and unfortunately even within the right wing gathering, there have been voices of dissent like the Swadeshi Jagran Manch and all which today, they are completely marginalized. Nobody is listening to either otherwise on the issue of WTO, on the issue of privatization of education and so on. For their side, also they could have built up some kind of resistance. There does not seem to be any inner party democracy.

Pranjal: Nandita, you have raised a very two important points. One is corporatization of education sector and another is changing the social fabric. We have seen motivated appointments in different campuses that have led to sort of led to different sort of student movements across the country. Starting from FTII and ICHR, How do you see this appointments and what impact are they going to have on the educational institutions?.

NN: What I feel is even when they have a very avowedly right wing agenda but within that they have to also that there is no intellectual leadership. Surely, they could have found better people from within the leadership to lead some of these institutions, they can think of a more dozen names people who could have headed FTII for example or somebody who had some credibility in their own area. But they taking out particularly mediocre people who will not be able to resist the onslaught. So when it comes to reduction of funds or when it comes to attack on dissent, may be a person whatever ideology they may have will believe that this institution needs to be protected. But these voices are not going to be heard because they got very mediocre people in place who will simply be like post offices, implement whatever is instructed from the top and that is not in the interest even in the interest of right wing in the country. It is in the interest of the people who are truly anti-national, truly against the freedom of the people, truly against democracy in our country. So it is somebody else's agenda, that is being implemented. So, whether it is FTII, Hyderabad university kind of Vice Chancellor today, or even in JNU, I would say extremely unsuitable person from electrical engineering to be sent to JNU who has not not at all covered himself in glory not played any role, not given any leadership in that institution. Somehow we are lucky to have person with much greater credibility, he has opened up some dialogue, we have some hopes here. But all over the country, it is much declined unprecedented kind and there is an attack on student movements. Central universities are being targeted, Allahabad University, JNU, Alighad Muslim University particularly because these are the places where you have intellectual leadership which is nurtured. Who does not want intellectual leadership of the country? Who does not want this country to be proud and independent. The only people who do not have it in their heart the interest of the nation.

Pranjal: Also, apart from these facts, the government has also been dismantling the public sector universities by raising the fees in different universities like it has happened in IITs and then WTO negotiations and a foreign education bill which was rejected during UPA regime by the same BJP is being brought again by …

NN: Not only that, it is the NCAHER which is coming in through the HEFA, Higher Education Funding Agency.. See what happened is the students have build up this movement against this non net fellowship withdrawal or reduction and reduction in grants and so on. Now, there is a sort to disrupt the whole movement and now we are worried about.. we are standing up for the democratic rights of oru students, not sending up to the jails, charges of sedition and every body is busy with that and there is another lot which is going on with Bharat Mata Ki Jai, so on and so forth. Nobody is talking about the issues that really matter and the government is able to slip through a 55% reduction in our funding, it is able to slip through the Gujarat Bill which become the model for the whole country which is central university bill, which is implemented in bits and pieces without being brought to the parliament where the autonomy of the university is completely being taken away. The ability to make syllabi, to be able to innovate is completely taken away and foreign universities or Indian Private Universities which are called universities of innovation by the Kapil Sibal Bill, they are the ones who have freedom to make courses and offer choices at a very high cost. So this model does not suit the Indian people. So these are modern day Jaichands who have really sold our interests and if the people within the right wing do not wake up they are being used to fulfil an agenda which is completely different.

Pranjal: Nandita, being president of FEDCUTA the current regime also brought CBCA system which they are trying to implement for the country and which could actually.. it will bring everybody on a same field. What impact it is going to have on the state level universities which actually lack resources if you compare with DU?

NN: It is again a scheme which is prepared not by within the country I believe, it is a blue print which is picked by the country to implement it by dilution of the intellectual content everywhere because you don't need thinking people who question policies. So the hegemony of that one percent will be threatened if people continue to question. So it is a scheme which has been devised. It has effected various countries. America is one of the first to be effected. You don't have any large student movements possible on any issue of any concern. For example even on Iraq war on anything unlike the Vietnam days. So these changes have been brought in continuously then and CBCS is again a PPP model because the choices that people are supposed to take after doing a very small amount of their subject which is highly diluted courses, the choices that they are supposed to get will not be able to get in their own universities because we are under-funded under-staffed but they will get it through private universities or open universities at a very high cost. So it is a PPP model which will help the private universities to get a foothold and to flourish. They think, they will flourish. But for most people of the country, access to formal quality affordable education will be a thing of the past. Something that you and I took for granted. It is not going to be possible for future generations. That can only be a recipe for disaster. If we follow models, why don't we look at Iceland, why don't we look at Finland. Why don't we look at France. Germany where public funded education is so strong that people can get very quality education from the kindergarten till the Phd level. Why don;t we follow those models.?

Pranjal: Also, there has been a trend that the social sciences have been continuously attacked in terms of either funding or course structure. Now, the recent phenomenon is that in Rajasthan, Jawaharlal Nehru has been scrapped from courses. Safdar Hashmi and Ismat Chugtai had been removed earlier. So this sort of attack has also become very aggressive in the current regime.

NN: Because you see the twin agendas I am talking about, one was that of Hindu Rashtra and they want to really wipe out your history because if you tamper with history, tamper with your collective memory. Your identity depends on your collective memory and it effects your future. So this attempts to black out things to change it and particularly your own role in the national struggle is very very dubious. So then you want to ban books like books by Bipin Chandra for absolutely specious ground that the particular term which Bhagat Singh used for himself also. The writer said that he will change it in light of the sentiments expressed but to ban the sale of the Hindi book and then there is an attempt may be to further curtail it from ourselves that may also happen. We won't be surprised. That is a very dangerous trend, that's an anti intellectual stand which is a very extremely conservative and it stops knowledge from growing. Similarly, you have instances which have been not only for this regime, the earlier regime, the three hundred Ramayanas withdrawn. You have a rich diverse culture you want to make it one homogenous upper caste understanding of your culture and your history which is not just true. So this is not something which really can be imposed on the country and there will be a huge resistance for the huge human cost. So this is sort of thing and particularly I want to mention one more thing. The CBCS is so anti intellectual in the sense that the causes that were made by the UGC and sent to us, in political science cause, there is no paper on the national struggle, the national movement. They removed it altogether. Now, why is that? But it is not only happening in political science, it is happening in all subjects. In commerce, there is no economics. In statistics there is no probability. It's absurd, it is also as a result of that teachers find themselves out of work. Those who are appointed to specialize in certain discipline and teach those within the subject, we have a huge kind of fracas going in Delhi University because suddenly, economic teachers appointed in Commerce Department have no work and so on. You know, it is creating so many problems that we will disintegrate very quickly. Probably that is the idea.

Pranjal: Nandita, this would be my last question. What do you see, what's the way ahead?

NN: The way ahead for us is to actually take this campaign out of our universities to the people at large to show them what they have to loose. Surely, they who fund the government through you know indirect taxes they have a right to affordable education to their children. I think, education is the most important thing and it is tied with all the struggles, whether it is a workers struggle or the struggle of the people, tribals, women and other marginalized sections or people in the university. I think we have to come together and I am confident that we can do that and rise above and I appeal to people with different kind of ideologies. What kind of life do they envisage for their own children in this country? Do they want them to get a decent education or not?. So we have to come together and fight against this kind of I would say this neo-colonial attack which never really went away. It is been there even in form of even the educated elite who have been just extensions of the colonial arm and I include myself in that.

Pranjal: Thanks a lot Nandita. As the issue proceeds, we will be coming back to you on such issues. Thank you for watching Newsclick.

DISCLAIMER: Please note that transcripts for Newsclick are typed from a recording of the program. Newsclick cannot guarantee their complete accuracy.