Page 24 - EW April 2025

Education News

key programme intended to achieve universal elemen- THEY SAID IT
tary education as mandated by the 86th Constitutional
Amendment, which guarantees free and compulsory “The Committee notes that in recent years,
education for children aged 6-14), contending that there has been a notable trend of foreign
signing the PM SHRI MoU by state governments, is a universities establishing campuses in India
precondition.
However, this contention is refuted by the March which is driven by India’s vast student
26 report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on market ... However, India is yet to secure
Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports. In its a campus from any of the leading global
report, the standing committee opined that the Centre’s universities (the Ivy Leagues, New York
argument linking SSA allocations with PM SHRI is “not University, Carnegie Mellon University,
justifiable”. “SSA predates PM SHRI and is intended to etc). The Committee recommends that
help states achieve targets of the Right to Education Act, the Department of Higher Education
2009. RTE is a law passed by Parliament and confers should make efforts to secure the same to
education as a fundamental right to every child. The enable greater access to the best of global
SSA scheme that enforces the fundamental right-based resources for students within the country,”
RTE, cannot be bypassed by NEP (National Education
Policy) 2020 which Parliamentary Panel headed by Congress MP Digvijay
was an executive Singh (The Print, April 6)
policy statement,”
says the report. The “This isn’t about engineering a market sell-
report commented off... I didn’t do this to crash anything. The
that delays in SSA markets have to take some medicine, but
funding (West Bengal it’s going to heal... We’re bringing jobs back,
Rs.1,000 crore, Kerala factories back. You watch, it’s going to be
Rs.859.63 crore and amazing.”
Tamil Nadu Rs.2,152 US President Donald Trump on the US/international
crore) are hampering stock markets crashing in the aftermath of his
school infrastructure executive order imposing 11-50 percent tariffs on
improvement, teacher countries worldwide (April 7)
training, and student Education minister Bratya Basu
support programmes “One research centre after another is be-
of state governments and is “severely impacting teach-
ers’ salaries, RTE reimbursements and transportation ing slashed or shut down by Mr. Trump
for students in remote areas”. and Elon Musk, whether it is at National
Comments Kinkar Adhikari, General Secretary Institutes of Health or the Environmental
of the Kolkata-based Educational Enthusiasts’ Unity Protection Agency. Mr. Trump has made
Forum: “If this trend of prioritising political battles over a move to completely dismantle the US
cooperative governance continues, students — especially Department of Education. He has ordered
in underprivileged households and rural areas —will widespread layoffs within federal science
suffer the most. They are caught in the crossfire of agencies... Mr. Trump’s assault on science
policy disagreements, funding disputes, and ideological might have global repurcussions.”
clashes between the BJP/NDA government and Bengal’s Atanu Biswas, professor, Indian Statistical Institute,
TMC government. It’s high time that in matters relating Kolkata in an essay ‘The Trump effect and a
to children’s education, the Central and state govern- possible exodus of expertise’ (The Hindu, April 9)
ments learn to collaborate to improve the poor infra-
structure and learning outcomes of government schools.
The education sector should be exempt from the power “Unless he suddenly changes direction,
struggles of political parties.” which is unlikely, Donald Trump is com-
But with legislative assembly elections in Bengal just mitting political suicide. His enormous tariff
a year away and the BJP leadership pulling out all stops increases, inducing retaliation by others,
to unseat the three-term TMC, excluding the education mean inflation, recession and trade war.”
sector from the hurly-burly of electoral politics is likely Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar, economist/columnist
to remain a pious wish. (The Economic Times, April 9)
Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata)

24 EDUCATIONWORLD APRIL 2025