Call to make education a major issue during 2019 election campaign

By A Representative
Ambarish Rai of the Right to Education (RTE) Forum has called upon civil society activists to "strengthen the nationwide campaign to make education a major issue in 2019 elections". Speaking at the stocktaking conference in Patna, organized by the RTE Forum, he said, Bihar has been slow in implementing the RTE Act, even as it is refusing to allocate enough funds for education and involve communities on educational issues.
Those who participated in the conference included intellectuals, social workers, teachers, students union members, and members of school management committees from different areas of Bihar. Speakers expressed serious concern over the absence of safety and grievances redressal mechanism for girls, and lack of empowerment of the public education system.
Speakers were unanimous in their view that it is not possible to realize the dream of a developed society based on equality without strengthening public education. They said, the commercialization of education would lead to widening disparity in society, creating sharp inequalities in society and serious bottlenecks for development.
Apart from Rai those who participated in the rally included President of Bihar Secondary Teachers Association and Bihar Legislative Council member Kedarnath Pandey, Dr Sanjeev Rai of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, University of Patna academic Prod Daisy Narayan, former Chairman of the Bihar Scheduled Commission Vidyanand Vikal, Regional Manager of Oxfam India Ranjana Das, and others.

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”

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