Anubhi Saxena
HARYANA | Congress never miss out a chance to keep it’s eyes peeled for BJP. This time, it claimed Haryana BJP government on April 9 for shutting government schools to open private schools. Indian National Lok Dal also put a question to the state government for the need of private schools on behalf of closing government schools.
The state government even didn’t bat an eyelid when they were asked for right to education for the children for rationalisation. Congress mentioned that they left the Right To Education out from the picture. RTE is the act of parliament for giving compulsory and free education to the children between 6 and 14 years.
Shutting down of government schools in the state has raised disbelief among the people. Instead of incrementing the percentage of literacy, the state is heading more towards illiteracy as rural area people can not afford schooling in private institutions.
However, Haryana Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma blew off the matter and says the aim of state government was to improve the educational standards and strategies and have inaugurated Model Sanskriti Schools. “This was rationalisation as we laid stress on quality education. 50,000 students left famous private schools and joined government schools in Panchkula, Ambala, Kurukshetra, Panipat and Mahendragarh. Children are eager to join Modern Sanskriti schools. So this is rationalization”, he said.
“208 government schools were shut down during the three years between 2015 and 2018. On the other hand, the state government gave permission to open 974 private schools. The government is promoting privatisation of education. Private players are being given precedence. They have also reduced the education budget,” Ravinder Singh Dhull said.
Congress alleged opposition party by practicing privatization, they have reduced the budget for education for the state. “We rationalised the schools and shifted the children to one school for their convenience. We have not shut down any school. We have also upgraded many schools,” Ram Bilas Sharma added. Ram Bilas also contradicted by putting a notice to the crowd that there were more than one schools in the villages and strength of the schools was not up to the mark. So, it was better to transform those schools into private ones as there is a demand of modern schools in the state which will maintain the education standards.
