We reject the whimsical diktat to close educational institutions in the name of BRICS Summit!

Lok Shikshak Manch condemns the arbitrary and anti-people closure of educational institutions in Delhi, especially public schools run by the DoE and MCD, on Friday, 11th September. This autocratic denial of education is a clear indication of how the interests of the rulers are totally opposed to those of the working classes. It is possible that this enforced closure of all public institutions in Delhi in the name of the BRICS Summit has been devised to give a hint to the better-off salaried class to leave the city for an extended weekend vacation so as to present a less cluttered picture of the capital. It is equally possible that this closure is another sign of that megalomania of the rulers which forces the common people to suffer the effects of its derangement.

As it is, public schools have been forced to curtail their academics, and shred their schedules and routine due to the continuous bombardment of sudden firmans from all levels of the government which are not only academically-irrelevant but often anti-educational. Authorities seem to derive special pleasure and kick out of these disruptive dictatorial orders by calling for immediate compliance which is to be proved by teachers and schools by supplying photographic, videographic and even GPS-tagged evidence of the commanded events.

 

While, being well familiar with the regressive character of the ruling dispensation, we do not expect it to appreciate education and academics, leave alone the special and urgent needs of the toiling and oppressed classes, we reject such egocentric, blatant and cavalier denial of education in the context of public schools and the children from working classes enrolled there. We reject such forced closure of public educational institutions which includes university and other libraries some of which otherwise follow the glorious tradition of remaining open on all days of the year except the three national holidays and sundays, while others open on sundays as well. 

We refuse to accept the manipulative justification advanced in the garb of 'national glory' for holding an international meet. Instead, such an order is in line with the proclivity of the ruling dispensation in general and its topmost functionaries in particular to lock down people's rights and institutions at will. Such an unaccountable and arbitrary exercise of power by the executive is a direct assault on people's lives and democracy. The only reasonable justification we can buy for this compelled closure is to see it as a form of disaster management, since such a rule is no less than a disaster for the masses.

The topping of such closures-by-fiat on the now-routinised, last-minute, unplanned curricular changes, streams of non-academic 'duties' for public schoolteachers, recently highlighted by the SIR-related BLO and other supervisory charges, and growing stretches of examinations, will only add to the impossibility of fulfilling the other formal demands of the system - minimum number of working/teaching days/ hours, sufficient time for effective teaching etc. This contradiction only proves that governments are least interested in the latter. This amounts to another edition of the enactment of the slogan 'will neither study, nor let others study'! Moreover, what 'national glory' can reside in closing all schools and educational institutions for an event of crass power? It is sheer incompetence at best. On the other hand, it should be a matter of shame for a state claiming global power, riches and heft not to be able to organise such an event without enforcing closure of schools, universities, libraries, public offices etc. 

Lok Sikshak Manch calls upon teachers, students and all other public-minded people in general to oppose such diktats and self-serving interference in educational institutions by the powers that be. We claim an education by, for and of the working classes, free from the depredations, self-aggrandisement and suffocating control of exploitative rulers.