JORHAT, Sept 9 - Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, the office-bearers of the State unit of Students� Federation of India (SFI) said that several vital issues of the present day education system and the serious problems faced by the student community would be discussed in their 15th State conference at Jorhat from September 11 to 13.
�The privatisation of educational institutes and the absence of adequate number of teachers, even in the medical and engineering college of Jorhat, caused serious problems for the students. The present NDA government also adopted the same privatisation and corporatisation policy of the UPA government which deprived the students of proper education in the State as well as the entire country,� said Nirankush Nath, State president of the SFI.
An engineering graduate, Nirankush, said that serious discussion would be held during the conference on the issues of the educational system of the State that facilitates the owners of the private educational institutions to earn more from the students� fees.
Citing the vacancies of several teaching and non-teaching posts in Jorhat Government Boys� Higher Secondary School, Jorhat Government Girls� High School, Jorhat Engineering College and the Jorhat Medical College, Amitabh Deka, an SFI member, alleged that the State government�s negligence over the issue indirectly helped the private educational institutions to attract more students.
�As many as 37 posts of teaching and non-teaching staffs are remaining vacant in Jorhat Engineering College. The vacancy in the govt HS school, medical college and the govt girls� high school is also a cause of serious concern. We think, the government�s negligence to these institutions is a part of conspiracy that indirectly helped the private colleges and schools to draw the attention of the students,� said Deka.
Expressing serious concern over the absence of proper infrastructure and relaxation of hotel fees in several government colleges in the State, the SFI�s district president, Hiamnshu Saikia, secretary Rituraj Goswami and many others said they would force the Central and the State government to discard the �anti-student� measures that deprived the poor meritorious students of their proper higher education in professional and non-professional subjects.
They said that the Tripura Chief Minister, Manik Sarkar, would attend the conference on September 11. The SFI�s national president, Dr V Sivadasan, director of Amiya Kumar Das Institute of Social Change and Development, Dr Bupen Sarma, Professor Surajit Sarma of JB College and journalist Prasanta Rajguru are also scheduled to participate in the various discussions during the conference.
It is to be mentioned that along with the discussions on the changing system of education, many other issues like political and economic changes will also be discussed in scientific way during the three-day conference at Jorhat.
