Educationalists Oppose Karnataka Move

Educationalists Oppose Karnataka Move

“ SIEMAT in private partnership in education dangerous”

Bangalore: The proposal to set up the State Institute of Educational Management and Training (SIEMAT) In Karnataka in partnership with Azim Premji Fundation has been opposed by several educationalists and intellectuals, including Jnaipth Award winner U.R. Ananthamurthy and former Planning Commission member L.C. Jain.

They termed it a “dangerous” sign of the Government relinquishing the core responsibility of policy framing in the area of education in the name of public-private partnership.

Mr. Jain told presspersons that education was a constitutional commitment involving every child’s future and this obligation of the State could not be minimized. He called upon the people to be “absolutely vigilant” about this fundamental right.

“Education is the only weapon the weak have,” he said. The Government should place all facts on what necessitated formation of this body in private partnership before the people and reconsider the idea before going any further, he said and added that there was a limit to the extent to which public-private partnership could work. “Can the Army be handed over to the private party?” he asked.

Mr. Ananthamurthy said the formation of this body went against the spirit of decentralization.

He demanded to know if there was a need to form such a body while there were School Development Monitoring Committees at the gram panchayat level to manage schools and there were several State-run bodies working in the area of research

Educationalists Oppose Karnataka Move

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