JAC asks AAP govt for open debate on state of education

Amritsar, April 20

A day after having hosted a candlelight protest, the Joint Action Committee (JAC), comprising the management of aided colleges, principals associations of three state universities, Punjab Chandigarh College Teachers Union (PCCTU) and the management of unaided colleges today challenged Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government to an open debate on the state of higher education in Punjab.

The JAC alleged that the AAP government was hell-bent on destroying the institutions of higher learning.

In a meeting held today, the JAC chalked out a protest schedule in the run-up to the Jalandhar Lok Sabha by-election. “We will hold protests, organise rallies and meet the leaders of all major political parties. The government has failed to address our genuine demands and we have been left with no option but to reach out to the people to protest against AAP’s anti-education policies,” said JAC chief Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina. They have announced three protest rallies at Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Patiala on April 27 followed by a massive state-level rally-cum protest march at Jalandhar on May 4.

The three primary demands discussed today were the scrapping of the proposed centralised admission portal for colleges which they said was being enforced upon the colleges arbitrarily. They termed the portal as discriminatory and being enforced to benefit the private players. They also demanded conversion of all posts into the grant-in-aid schemes and formation of a Higher Education Lok Pal.

JAC office-bearers including SP Singh, former VC, GNDU, Vinay Sofat, president, PCCTU, general secretary SM Sharma and others decided to continue their boycott of admissions through the centralised portal, meet the VCs of GNDU, Amritsar, and Panjabi University, Patiala, and appreciated the decision of Panjab University, Chandigarh, not to implement the centralised admission portal.

The JAC announced that if need be, they will boycott all the examinations of the three state universities in the days to come.