In the midst of an attack on universities and students, yesterday in Bangalore, a group of student and social organizations came together to form “Federation of Student Organizations for Free Education”.
The federation demands nationalization of education and saving JNU. The coalition has called for an important meeting tomorrow to discuss the matter further.
It is seen as a positive development in student politics. KVS, BVS, SFI, CFI, NSUI, SIO along with several Student bodies have participated in the meeting and have agreed on it unanimously.
Education is the fundamental right of everyone. The constitution also agrees to the fact that education should be free and compulsory for all. Savitribai Phule, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, and Dr. BR Ambedkar have fought for it. Even now the struggle is continuing. But the successive ruling governments have tried to escape from the conditional responsibility of education. Governments have been directly responsible for mushrooming of private institutions, closing down government schools and colleges and their continuing assault on education with the latest fee hike at JNU.
Progressive people from Karnataka have joined their hand together to expose the government conspiracy to privatize education, to oppose fee hike across the country and to demand free education across India. It brought all the student organizations of Karnataka together and decided to lead this struggle. The new initiative is “Federation of Student Organizations for Free Education”.
The first preliminary meeting was held on November 23 in Gandhinagar, Bangalore under the leadership of Dr.CS Dwarkanath, former chairman of the Backward Classes Commission and BR Bhaskar Prasad, a youth activist.
BR Bhaskar Prasad said- The next meeting is scheduled to be held on Monday November 25th at 4 pm at the Freedom Park, Bangalore and invitations has been sent to ABVP, AISA, AIDSO and DSF organizations who are also expected to take part in it Education is free for everyone in the country, from LKG to PhD. Education must be nationalized.
This Federation hopes that everyone in this country should get equal education without caste and gender discrimination. The federation has given a call that this struggle is not only to save JNU but also for the future generations and to the prosperous future of the country.
How can we support the struggle of JNU students?
Student organisation representatives and their leaders leaving aside their party and ideological disagreements had attended the meeting at Gandhinagar office demanding free education for all from primary school and Ph.D degree along with the question of how can we immediately intervene and support JNU’s Student Struggle.
The meeting, which lasted for about two hours, involved a long discussion on many issues. “It was decided to call and invite more people who are concerned about the issue,” CS Dwarkanath said.
Srinivas from Bahujan Vidyarthi Sangathane (BVS) told his experience of studies in JNU and how coming from poor family it helped him a lot. – I completed MA, M.Phil, and Ph.D. from 2002 to 2010 at JNU, Delhi. JNU offers an excellent education at a very low cost. That is why there are poor talented students from all corners of India. I also went to JNU from my village and completed my studies with 300 rupees a year. Otherwise, I would not have been able to get through this. They do not impose their doctrine on anyone, even though there is much communist influence there. There is also ABVP, NSUI. We also started an organization called Bahujan Students Front. In spite of having several organizations, nobody forces their ideology on to others. The freedom that we get in JNU, makes us to realize the true reality of India and inspires us to build strong India. The BJP government is concerned that those who come out will sow the same thoughts in society. For this reason they are trying to finish off JNU. For saving it we are uniting in Karnataka.
