Educationists appeal to pol parties: Include education in manifesto

Mumbai: More than 50 top educationists from the state including former vice-chancellor of University of Mumbai Bhalchandra Mungekar and former director of Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education Hemchandra Pradhan have reached out to all political parties, urging them to include educational development in their manifesto for the upcoming assembly polls. The object of their appeal is to ensure universal and quality school education, and urgently decide the education policy of the state consistent with the objectives and values of the Constitution.
The appeal – endorsed by educationists like Mungekar, Pradhan, Vivek Monteiro, Girish Samant, Vijay Naik, Pramod Nigudkar, social activist Mukta Dabholkar, senior journalist Shubhada Chaukar and actor Chinmayee Sumit, among others – has been shared with all political parties in the state including the Congress, BJP, Shiv Sena, Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar), CPI and CPI (M).
“It is our national resolution that the expenditure on all types of education by the central and state governments should be 6% of the gross domestic product (GDP). The current provision for all forms of education in the budget of the Maharashtra state government is less than 14% of the total expenditure and less than 2.3% of GDP. Against this backdrop, the provision for school education in the state budget (apart from the provisions for sports, art, culture) should be increased to 25% of the total expenditure in a phased manner over the next three years, so that its value reaches 4% of the gross domestic product in the state by 2027,” the appeal said.
On pre-primary education, the appeal said kindergartens should be academically attached to primary schools and anganwadis should be incorporated in them. Some educationists also suggested a separate law for pre-primary education.
The appeal also demanded cancellation of the government order dated September 18, 2023, which allowed zilla parishads and local self-government bodies to hand over schools to the private sector for adoption. On the right to education, it said necessary arrangements should be made to ensure children of migrant workers are able to study in their native village as well as the destination.
A group of educationists pointed out that no school should be closed down due to low enrollment; facilities mandated by the Right to Education Act should not be withdrawn from any school; and focus should be placed on training teachers to improve the quality of education. Another group suggested that the state should appoint a State Educational Advisory Council along the lines of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE).
“We expect political parties to incorporate some of these points in their manifesto, which will help in implementing them as part of a policy in the future,” said Samant, a member of the group.