New Job Policy its impact on education and society must read and share: Government of J&Ks New Recruitment Policy and its deleterious impact on education and employment in the state. Dear all, We are forwarding to you a Press Release (in attachment in both word and pdf formats) issued by the ALL INDIA FORUM FOR RIGHT TO EDUCATION (AIF-RTE) teamwith regard to the New Recruitment Policy declared by the Government of Jammu & Kashmir recently and its deleterious impact on the education system and employment in the state. Normally, we do not hear about the socio-economic, educational and developmental issues of the state of Jammu & Kashmir and people’s struggle for pro-people policies in these sectors. Here lies the significance of this Press Release. The Press Release is issued at the end of a 4-day visit of the AIF-RTE team to the Jammu University campus earlier this week at the invitation of the Progressive Students Association (PSA) and is meant for publication/ telecast in your esteemed newspaper/ magazine/ electronic channel. With regards, Sincerely, Dr. Anil Sadgopal, Bhopal Member, Presidium All India Forum for Right to Education & former Dean Faculty of Education, University of Delhi Tel.: (0755) 256-0438 Mo.: 09425600637 end_of_the_skype_highlighting Email: anilsadgopal@yahoo PRESS RELEASE 19 November 2011 The 3-member team of the ALL INDIA FORUM FOR RIGHT TO EDUCATION (AIF-RTE) drawn from Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Delhi on a visit to Jammu University campus earlier this week participated in a Seminar on “New Recruitment Policy, Education and Globalisation” organized by the Progressive Students Association (PSA). After holding wide-ranging discussions in the city and visiting schools in the surrounding rural areas, the AIF-RTE team expresses its deep shock at the anti-Constitutional, anti-youth and anti-education character of the New Recruitment Policy recently declared by the Government of Jammu & Kashmir. The state government’s decision to deny regular pay scales to the new recruits in various non-gazetted cadres w.e.f. November 1, 2011 shall amount to 5 to 6-fold lower salaries than the present ones. Expectedly, in a state where the government employment constitutes the major source of livelihood for educated youth, the government is facing increasing popular resistance from various sections of students and youth. The new policy violates the established Constitutional principle of ‘equal wages for equal work’ under Article 14 and 15 (1) of the Constitution. Further, the Table of fixed monthly salaries issued by the state government reveals that the new recruits under the first two pay bands shall be paid less than even the Minimum Wages notified by the government itself. This clearly violates the Minimum Wages Act and also Articles 41 (Right to Work) and 43 (Living Wages with decent standard of life, leisure and social & cultural opportunities) read in conjunction with Article 21 (Right to Life with dignity). That renders the New Recruitment Policy anti-education also is the fact that it will significantly downgrade the emoluments of the teaching and non-teaching staff as well at both school and college-university levels, thereby demotivating qualified youth from joining educational services. In this sense, the new policy extends the World Bank-promoted ongoing frivolous Rahabar-e-Talim (Para Teachers) scheme across all educational levels which is bound to worsen the quality of teaching in increasingly discredited government institutions. Consequently, the pace of privatization and commercialization of education shall further accelerate, as mandated by the World Bank. Clearly, the aforesaid recruitment policy is designed to promote profiteering of the upcoming corporate sector by decreasing the bargaining power of the state’s youth by a factor of almost 5 to 6-fold. This will be in accordance with the World Bank-dictate under its Structural Adjustment Programme imposed on Indian economy leading to further impoverishment, inequality and discrimination in the state. The AIF-RTE team is equally disturbed at seeing how the state government is blatantly pushing the corporate agenda of crass commercialization in higher education by initiating a series of self-financing courses even in public-funded colleges and universities, including Jammu University. In its paper entitled, ‘Achievements of Higher Education Department for 2009-10’, the state government admits that in order to “boost the private sector 74 NOCs in respect of MBA, MCA, BCA, BBA, PGDCA courses have been issued to various Societies/ Trusts”. This implies that the youth from low-income groups will be denied equal opportunities to access higher education and thus be excluded from participation in the state’s economy. We also deplore the flimsy alibi offered by Hon’ble Chief Minister that the New Recruitment Policy will enable his government to offer jobs to more people, while camouflaging his real agenda of decreasing the role of the government sector in favour of the corporate sector. Is the Hon’ble Chief Minister expecting the youth to accept such demeaning fixed monthly salaries which are lower than the Minimum Wages? The hidden agenda of the policy is to force the educated youth to shift to the profit-hungry corporate sector with 5 to 6-fold reduced bargaining power! This is precisely why the state government has conducted repeated rounds of arrests of the students and youth protesting its aforesaid policy, slapped false charges on them and unleashed a regime of repression. To make matters worse, during our stay in Jammu earlier this week, a group of lumpen youth aligned with the ruling coalition physically assaulted Progressive Students Association (PSA) members conducting silent protest at the university campus, while the university authorities looked away. During its visit to rural schools, we were dismayed to note the lackadaisical quality of teaching and low levels of achievements in various subjects, especially languages, science and mathematics, apart from dismal the state of laboratories and libraries. We further noted that less than 10% of the children entering Class I are able to cross Class XII; this excludes those who never enter schools at all like those of the Bakharwal and other nomadic tribes. Thus more than 90% of the children are denied access to higher education. The AIF-RTE team, therefore, demands from the Government of Jammu & Kashmir that, 1. The New Recruitment Policy is withdrawn unconditionally forthwith and is replaced by a New Employment and Livelihood Policy in accordance with the Constitution. 2. A New Education Policy is instituted such that all children, including those of the nomadic tribes (e.g. Bakharwals), are guaranteed free education of equitable quality up to Class XII and enabled to have equal opportunity to access higher education courses under Articles 14 and 15 (1) along with social justice under Article 16 of the Constitution. 3. A fully public-funded Common School System based on Neighbourhood schools, governed in a decentralized, participative and democratic mode, is instituted within a time-bound frame. 4. The present policy of pushing self-financing courses is replaced by a new policy of promoting fully public-funded advanced technical and vocational courses such that even the poorest of the state’s youth can move forward. The ruthless repression unleashed on the students and youth, protesting against the New Recruitment Policy and demanding a responsible public-funded education system of equitable quality, is stopped forthwith and their civil liberties and democratic rights restored under Articles 19 (1) and 21 of the Constitution. Sd. /- Dr. Anil Sadgopal, Bhopal, Member, Presidium, All India Forum for Right to Education, & former Dean, Faculty of Education, University of Delhi Sd./- Sh. Trepan Singh Chauhan, Member, National Executive, All India Forum for Right to Education, & Leader, Chetna Andolan, Uttarakhand Sd./- Ms. Rakhi Gupta, Delhi Shiksha Adhikar Manch, Delhi Board of Advisers: Prof. Ramakant Agnihotri, Prof. Wasi Ahmed, Dr. P.M. Bhargava, Dr. Vashanti V. Devi, Prof. Sudarshan Iyengar, Dr. G.G.Parikh, Prof. N.D. Patil, Prof. K. Chakradhar Rao, Dr.B.D. Sharma, Dr. Banwari Lal Sharma, Sri S.P. Shukla, Sri Shatrughan, P.D. Singh, Sri Bhai Vaidya, Prof. Rooprekha Verma Presidium: Prof. Meher Engineer, Sri Prabhakar Arade, Prof G. Hargopal, Sri Kedar Nath Pandey, Ms Madhu Prasad, Prof Anil Sadgopal, Sri Sunil. Secretariat: Sri D. Ramesh Patnaik; Ms Guddi S.L.; Dr. Sarwat Ali; Dr. Shaheen Ansari; Ms Geeta Athreya; Sri Trepan Singh Chauhan; Ms Simantini Dhuru; Sri Ajit Jha; Dr. Radhika Menon; Dr. V.N. Sharma
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 14:24:29 +0000
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