Days after social media reported the public-private partnership (PPP) plans of West Bengal’s education department, the Students Federation of India and other left-wing teachers’ organizations threatened to protest vehemently against such a move on Friday. The protesters claimed that the idea, if implemented, would deprive many students, especially the underprivileged, of primary education, with private players running the show.
An unsigned and undated draft message, called the Department of School Education, recently circulated on social media stating that the government, as part of its expansion plans, planned to operationalize schools through a public-private partnership (PPP)- fashion model. While, in order to bring together the best practices of both government and private schools, the School Education Department, Government of West Bengal (GoWB), plans to operationalize schools through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model and leverage of unused government infrastructure.
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“Whereas a need is felt to encourage private investors in the school education sector by extending more flexible government contributions in the form of a public-private partnership mode, whereby the state government can provide land or buildings or infrastructure and other facilities to the investors, provide (sic ),’ according to the draft notice.
A senior education department official who had asked chief secretary Manish Jain for their views on the PPP model for schools in a letter to heads of several other departments last month. The official also said that, despite protests, the government would now “monitor the situation carefully” before working on the design.
Several teachers’ associations and SFI, the left-wing student organization, have said they will hold protests in several colleges and universities in protest. “This is a deep-seated conspiracy to transfer the education sector to certain corporate groups that are close to the government. We will launch a fierce protest against the idea. We will go to some extent,” said Subhajit Sarkar, a member of the SFI state unit.
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A senior official from the Ministry of Education, when contacted, said no decision had been made on the matter, and declined to release any further details. The All Bengal Teachers’ Association (ABTA) called for a ‘mahamichhil’ (giant gathering) on February 19 to protest the concept note and proposed policy.
“Any step to privatize the state-run education system will deprive student lakhs of basic education facilities and education and allow the private sector to operate the service. That should not happen,” said one of the ABTA spokespersons.
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