All up in arms against the Anti-education and Anti-youth BJP Government!

The BJP Government has been facing utmost resistance from students and teachers since it came to power in 2014. The anti-youth, anti-student and anti-education policies have been resisted tooth and nail by the student and teacher community. The JNU community has been fighting for over 37 days against the regressive hostel manual and exorbitant fee hike, pushing the university towards privatization. Students of Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Delhi has also started protesting against the exorbitant fee structure which makes it difficult for students from marginalized background to pursue journalism. Teachers of Delhi University have started an indefinite boycott of all official activities and have occupied the VC office since 4th December against a DU circular which prohibits ad hoc appointments and allows for only guest appointments against vacancies. This circular has been applied retrospectively, leading to withholding of salaries of ad hoc faculty members. The future appointments of all the ad hoc faculties are also at stake. The Gujarat Subordinate Service Selection Board aspirants who had taken the exam for recruitment for Class III secretariat assistants and non-secretariat clerks launched a protest in Gandhinagar on 4th December demanding cancellation of the 17 November exam and re-test on account of reports of mass cheating and copying emerged. They were brutally lathicharged by the Gujarat police.

The spate of fee hikes across campuses intensified with the National Education Policy, which has a blueprint to dismantle public funded institutes and promote self-financing model and privatization of education, turning education into a profit-making business. Voices against fee hike have emerged from IITs, AIIMS, JNU and now IIMC. Students have IIMC have voiced genuine concerns in saying that if students have to pay hefty fees for getting a degree in journalism, then why will they use their degree in bringing out the truth and voicing the concerns of the marginalized? They will be using it to make money, just like most media houses who are invested in increasing TRP and profits. The debate around affordable education is back in discourse, and is challenging the Modi government upfront. On behalf of AISA, we wholeheartedly, supports the movement in IIMC.

The Delhi University Teachers’ Association made history on 4th December by breaking the gates of the Vice Regal Lodge, the DU VC Office. Thousands of DU teachers have occupied the VC office since then. Contractualisation of the workforce has been one of the primary agenda of the Modi government. This move is extremely detrimental for the teaching learning process. DU is also one of the universities which have not been implementing the reservation policy properly. Thousands of teachers are teaching on an ad hoc basis for years. AISA demands immediate absorption of ad hoc teachers, withdrawing the circular which prohibits ad hoc positions against vacancies and proper implementation of reservation policies. AISA stands in solidarity with the struggle of teachers of DU.

In another follow up of SSC paper leak under the BJP government, the BJP led Gujarat Government has also failed to conduct the GSSSB exam without mass malpractice. What more can be expected of the BJP government, who despite huge protests by SSC aspirants across the country in 2018, extended the tenure of the SSC Chairperson Ashim Khurana, who himself was involved in the paper leak! The GSSSB aspirants who staged protest in Gandhinagar on 4th December were brutally lathicharged by the police. This, once again, exposes the empty promise of ‘generating 2 crore jobs per year’ by the BJP government. AISA condemns the brutal lathicharge and demands that the Gujarat government immediately cancels the 17 November GSSSB exam and conduct a re-exam.

The Modi government is facing real challenge from the students, teachers and the unemployed youth of the country. The vehement protests are reiterating that the communal tactics of the BJP government to divide the youth and divert the attention from the real questions of education and employment are failing badly. AISA salutes the protestors across the country for standing upto this anti-education and anti-youth government, and appeals for intensification of movement against privatization of education, massive corruption in Government exams and joblessness.

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