The massacre of government schools
Government schools are in news again. The only time when government schools feature in news is when they are due to be closed. Reports in the media say more than 3000 schools have been closed and more would down the shutters soon. Primary and Higher primary education minister N Mahesh has said they’d ensure the government schools are not closed for whatever reasons. Governments in the past gave similar assurances but then they could hardly stick to their promise.
Governments assure that the schools won’t be closed. But the unsaid meaning in this is ‘if they close, remember we weren’t responsible’. If the attendance of children consistently drops in a government school, they’d obviously be rendered useless and shut down sooner or later. Our politicians know this well. None of the schools in our state closed by themselves. There is an organized conspiracy behind this. If you starve a person to death, doesn’t that amount to murder? Similar is the situation with schools.
The basic infrastructure of the school is consistently destroyed, and no new measures are initiated to ensure they begin to work well. When they do not respond to the needs of modern times, schools will obviously go into the oblivion. And this act is carried out by the governments. All parents send their kids to school with the hope that they’d be well prepared to earn a livelihood for themselves in the future and be ready to face challenges too.
Hence, they choose the schools with much care. If they feel government schools are not meeting the needs of their children’s future, they’d obviously take their children to other schools.
There must be some significant reason behind making private schools inevitable for parents, by way of weakening the government schools despite supply of books, mid day meals, free uniform and books etc.
Government is probably playing a role in this closure too. While some schools are being shut down, some of them are being adopted by wealthy corporates who have set their eyes on the most valuable land on which the schools stand. But then, some organisations, social servants and volunteers are really doing a good job of running defunct government schools better than the government itself.
At the same time, some vested interests are planning to materialize their plans on this occasion when the schools are being rendered useless. This ‘adoption scheme’ is being used really well by some organisations. Today, some schools are much like children who are not wanted by either of the parents. And in private space, parents are struggling to meet the expenses of kids getting into nursery and primary, forget even higher classes. If the schools shut down, children coming under BPL category will have a tough time accessing education. Even the middle class will have to fall prey to costly education. Kannada, the language, will hardly have any chances of survival. In the future, there’d be clear demarcation between the ones that can afford education and the ones that cannot. This would increase the difference between the haves and have nots.
Even if the government worries one little bit about the people in bottom most rung of the society, it should not allow closure of government schools ever.
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Ajit Pawar wins Baramati battle, defeats nephew Yugendra by more than 1 lakh votes
Baramati, Nov 23: Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister and NCP president Ajit Pawar on Saturday won from his traditional Baramati assembly constituency by defeating his nephew and NCP (SP) candidate Yugendra Pawar by more than one lakh votes.
Ajit, who parted ways with his uncle Sharad Pawar last year and was seeking an eighth term from this family bastion in Pune district, polled 1,81,132 votes while Yugendra Pawar polled 80,233 votes.
Ajit, thus, defeated his younger brother's son by 1,00,899 votes.
Five months ago, Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) had triumphed in Baramati in the Lok Sabha elections, with incumbent MP and Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule defeating Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra by a margin of 1.5 lakh votes.
Both the NCP factions did not leave a single stone unturned during the assembly campaign, and even Sharad Pawar's wife Pratibha Pawar and Sule's daughter Revati were seen campaigning for Yugendra, while Ajit Pawar brought his mother on stage during his concluding rally in Baramati.
While Sharad Pawar told the people of Baramati that they needed a new leadership, alluding to Yugendra Pawar whom he described as a highly-educated candidate, Ajit Pawar cautioned people not to fall prey to the "emotional pitch" by the senior Pawar.
After Saturday's results, Ajit Pawar, who along with several other NCP legislators sided with the BJP-Shiv Sena government in 2023, could claim to be the real political heir of his estranged uncle who founded the NCP in 1999.
Sunetra Pawar, now a Rajya Sabha member, thanked the people of Baramati for reposing their faith once again in `Dada' (elder brother in Marathi, as Ajit is fondly called).
