March 11, 2025
Rajya Sabha MP Ritabrata Banerjee’s speech during the Discussion on the Working of the Ministry of Education
Madam, as I speak on behalf of my party, AITC, I want to mention that education is the basic building block of every society. It is the single best investment that countries can make to build prosperous, healthy and equitable societies. But, unfortunately, ‘education for all’ still remains a distant dream in our country. Since decades, discussions and demands for allocation of 6 per cent of GDP on education continue. Union expenditure on education in the Budget has been 0.37 per cent of the GDP, much below the set target of 6 per cent of the New Education Policy 2020. Ensuring equitable access to quality education is one of the greatest challenges facing the country. Eighty per cent of our youth are unemployed. One in every three youth is neither in education, nor in employment nor in training. Ninety-three per cent of the workforce contributing to more than 50 per cent of our GDP is employed in the unorganized sector, with no job security or social security and are being deprived of statutory benefits. Now, as we discuss education, — hon. Minister is here — I want to mention that without any consultations with the State Governments, the NEP has been forcibly thrust upon the States. Our State Government was forced to start the four-year graduation course with interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary framework so that students of the State don’t lag behind or suffer as far as the all India perspectives are concerned. But the huge infrastructure and expenditure that the State Government is incurring is not borne by the Central Government. Leave aside the allocation for meeting such huge expenses, the Union Government is completely silent about the areas from where this huge expenditure will be met. The persistence of the Governor as Chancellor has caused numerous problems in the governance of State Universities. While State Governments fund these universities, Governors wield substantial power without corresponding accountability. This creates a dual authority system with conflicting demands. Disagreement between Governors and State Governments, particularly, in Opposition-ruled States, lead to delays in appointing VCs causing administrative paralysis. These delays affect areas such as appointment of staff, implementation of projects and even awarding of degrees. Now, some Governors rely on political interference, often prioritizing the Centre’s political agenda over the university’s autonomy and interest. Allowing Governors appointed by Centre to control State institution compromises the principle of federalism. State Universities should be fully accountable to State Governments only elected by the people. The Search Committee headed by former Chief Justice of India, Shri U.U. Lalit, had made some recommendations. In spite of those recommendations, the Governor of West Bengal has only appointed 14 permanent Vice-Chancellors out of the Government-run and 31 aided Universities. “For a considerable period of time, attempts are being made to establish direct contacts with the Vice Chancellors of the State Government-aided universities bypassing the State Government. Those Vice Chancellors who are not maintaining direct contact are being unethically removed from their respective positions by the Chancellor. As a result, the higher education system in the State is on the verge of collapse.” In the recently published UGC Draft Regulations, all powers for appointing Vice-Chancellors of State-run and affiliated universities have been vested in the hands of the Chancellors. The Governors, who are the Chancellors, are completely ignoring the elected State Governments. Literally, all powers are centralized in the hands of the Union Government, though education is not in the Union List. The Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, a Centrally-sponsored Scheme with a fund-sharing ratio of 60:40, has seen the State of West Bengal achieve one of the best performances, yet it is being deprived of its share. The Minutes of the Programme Approval Board of Samagra Shiksha reveal that the Government of India has recommended a budgetary outlay of Rs 2,629 crore for 2023-24 for the State, out of which the Government of India’s share was Rs 1,745.78 crore. Out of this amount, only Rs 311.29 crore has reached the State, with no other funds being released. Despite repeated communications from the State Government, the Government of India has not released any funds. The Government of India did not release its share of Rs 1,433.71 crore in 2023-24 and has made zero allocations for 2024-25 to date. It is worth mentioning that the Government of India has not released a cumulative amount of Rs 3,180.31 crore during 2023-24 and 2024-25 respectively to the State of West Bengal. The Government of West Bengal, under Madam Mamata Banerjee, is instead releasing State share of 40 per cent as well as additional allocations to the Samagra Shiksha Society to ensure timely payment of wages and salaries to Samagra Shiksha employees, composite grants to schools, and other student-centric incentives. The non-release of funds by the Government of India, despite clearance from the Ministry of Finance in favour of the State of West Bengal, is a clear sign of deprivation of our people and violation of their right to education, as enshrined in the Act framed by Parliament. We are now learning from the media that due to the non-signing of the MoU by the Government of West Bengal for the PM SHRI – PM School for Rising India Scheme — which is a separate scheme with separate guidelines, budgets, and SNA accounts, the fund release under Samagra Shiksha has been stopped. The State has raised objections to this scheme, named PM SHRI, despite a fund-sharing ratio of 60:40. Furthermore, there is no mention in the Samagra Shiksha guidelines that signing the MoU for PM SHRI is a precondition for releasing funds under the Samagra Shiksha Scheme, which is designed under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. The new Centrally-Sponsored Scheme has been framed with a funding pattern of 60:40, creating pressure on States to accept the scheme’s priorities, which may not align with State Government priorities. Now, the ideas of the ruling class, Madam, are the ruling ideas in every epoch. The class controlling the means of material production also controls the means of mental production. This is evident. When I heard Mr. Ghanashyam Tiwari speaking, I remembered these words, as the NEP 2020 emphasizes promoting critical thinking, scientific temper and constitutional values. We have cut down on several key topics in our curriculum. We have removed the periodic table, Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, the theorem of Pythagoras, and Michael Faraday’s contributions to our understanding of electricity and magnetism. Despite protests from thousands of scientists across the country, the NCERT has not taken heed. In 2018, the then Minister of State for Higher Education, Shri Satya Pal Singh, sparked controversy by demanding the removal of the Theory of Evolution from school curricula, citing that no one has seen an ape transform into a human being. Other political leaders from the ruling dispensation defended his statement on social media. The National Council of Educational Research and Training has decided to omit the chapter of the Periodic Table saying that this is a rationalization exercise. I want to know from the hon. Minister: What does this rationalization exercise mean? Does it mean omitting the Periodic Table from the curriculum? The Council has also deleted chapters ‘Democracy and Diversity, Popular Struggles and Movements, Political Parties, and Challenges to Democracy.’ Madam, I now come to a very important point, that is, of educational institutions run by the minorities. There are 54,000 educational institutions run by the Christian community in our country. About seven crore of students go to these institutions every year. About 70 to 75 per cent of the students are not Christians. They are from different communities – Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs and even Atheists. Why does the Government want to interfere with the administration of these institutions and intimidate these institutions? There are many Ministers in Modiji’s Cabinet. I can name many of them who have been to these institutions. It is a long list, but I will give only one name. The president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the hon. Leader of the House, Shri J.P. Nadda, went to St. Michael’s, Patna. He is the right person to share what a great education he had at this minority-run institution! . Let me finish. Okay; sorry, I correct it. Now, how is India described? India was described by our first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, in his Discovery of India. What does it say? It says, “Nehru invokes the very evocative idea of the palimpsest. In ancient times before the discovery or invention of paper, the palimpsest was either a tablet of stone or a wood on which every victor would erase the past history and write his own convenient version. But India is a typical palimpsest, an ancient palimpsest on which layer upon layer of thought and reverie had been inscribed and yet no succeeding layer had completely hidden or erased what had been written previously.” This beauty of India will continue despite all attempts to erase away all our glories. I have a minute left. So, lastly, I want to mention the Uttar Pradesh Government. The Uttar Pradesh Government has revised the syllabus and in the revision of the syllabus, the Uttar Pradesh Government has excluded Rabindranath Tagore. Rabindranath Tagore has been excluded from the syllabus of the Uttar Pradesh Government. An elected State Government has every right of doing it. It is their prerogative. They probably think that Rabindranath can be replaced by Ramdev. I have no problem. The UP Government thinks that Rabindranath can be replaced by Ramdev. The true polymath, accomplished musician and artist, . Madam, I crave your indulgence; I will take a minute more. The true polymath, accomplished musician and artist, an electric philosopher and a passionate political activist, Rabindranath, advocated the integrity of education and culture. The people who are dropping him from textbooks are the ones who are dictating that we cannot eat fish on particular days of the week. Ancestors of Rabindranath and of us have been eating fish for five thousand years. It is in our DNA. The problem is, Madam, some people do not understand the pulse of the Maa, Mati or Manush. Maa, Mati, Manush means mother, land and people. Alongwith Maa, Mati, Manush comes Maa, Mati, Manush and Mach, that means, Maa, Mati, Manush and Fish. I will just quote a line of Tagore. They have deleted Tagore. It was Tagore who said,“I am the poet of the world. Each and every sound that originates in any corner of the world will be reciprocated will be reciprocated with the tune of my flute.”
