The assault on public education best described in Shri Javadekar’s words as the Government “striving to introduce a liberalized regime in the education sector” is a big step toward completing the task of the Narsimha Rao Government that ushered in the Liberalization-Privatisation-Globalization regime. This is the context in which teachers have to view the assault on their lives and livelihood and undermining of dialogue and engagement with the collective body of teachers.
Unless public attention remains focused, the opportunistic use of reservation policy by the Union Government can do immeasurable harm to standards of education in public funded higher educational institutions.
Service and working conditions of teachers are shaped by the structure and character of education as much as they shape it. It is in the interest of teachers and education to forge broader unity and bring to public attention the devastating consequences of the education policy being pursued by the Government. Otherwise, educational institutions and practices would change beyond recognition before we realise it.