SHRI PRAMOD KUREEL (UTTAR PRADESH):
Thank you, Sir. First of all, I wish to support the views, the sentiments and the concerns expressed by Shri Balagopalji who has brought this Resolution before us for consideration. Sir, education in our country is expanding very rapidly. In our country, purely speaking, our educational system can be divided in three broad categories. One is the Government sector; the second is the Aided sector and the third is the Self-Ffinancing or Unaided sector. In Government sector educational institutions everything is provided by the Government. Aided institutions are run by various trusts, societies and private agencies that cater to the educational needs of the people. The Self-Financing institutions are not aided by the Government in any way and they have to fend for themselves and they have to raise their resources and make arrangement for everything. The way our education sector is expanding, the way the educational needs of the society and the country are expanding, we can understand that there is a need for the private sector to step in as a support to the Government. We know because of the paucity of funds and many other considerations, it is almost impossible for the Government to provide for the educational need of the society which is expanding at a very fast pace. Anybody who is starting an educational institution, especially an institution for higher learning, we understand and we accept that he cannot run an institution without money. If somebody is investing crores and crores of rupee, it is but natural that he requires money. He requires money from various sources and ultimately when he is investing so much of money he needs to earn some profit also. We are not saying that profit is not needed. But the question is how much profit is needed; how much profit is required; how much profit is just and how much profit is unjust. That is the question before all of us. Sir, Shri Balagopal has correctly outlined many problems being faced by studentsand their parents in the Self-Financing institutions in the country. What we see today is the problem of capitation fees, which we all know. Many of the institutions -- I am not saying all the institutions -- are charging very high tuition fee. In the name of development charges, they are charging a lot of money every year. Many times, they don't even give receipt for that. Most of the money they charge is under the table. There are so many other charges also. I am a Member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on HRD and I am attending many meetings on various Bills. This January, as a part of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on HRD, I had a chance to visit the States of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
(Contd. by 3j/KSK)
KSK/4.40/3J
SHRI PRAMOD KUREEL (CONTD): My hon. colleague, Shri Balagopal, is from Kerala State. Although I live in Uttar Pradesh or Delhi, during the last one-and-a-half years, I have spent most of the time in Kerala State as part of my political duties given to me by my Party. So, I can vouch for it; whatever Shri Balagopal has said is hundred per cent true. Today, what we are witnessing in our country is a very serious matter. In our country, education has always been considered as a sacred thing. After our religion, education was given the next status in terms of sanctity and sacredness. This is how we have viewed education in our country. But, what do we see today? Education has been commercialised, and not only commercialised, it has fallen even below that. Some people say that these private institutions are working like educational shops. In a shop, at least, you have a chance that if you don’t like a particular product or its price, you can go to the next shop. You have an option. But, you don’t have this kind of an option in the private institutions. Once you enter an institution, you cannot change your institution very easily.
So, this is the kind of predicament our people are facing, our students are facing and the parents are facing in this country. First, they are not able to get admission. They have to pay lot of fees. And, even after getting admission after paying lakhs and lakhs of rupees as capitation fees or high tuition fees, even during the course of their studies, they are made to pay lot of money regularly on the grounds of so many hidden charges also.
Sir, I wish to highlight one important aspect of how these private institutions are working. When I say private institutions, I mean both, the Self-Financing institutions and the Aided ones. Last year, when I was in Kerala State, I got some information under the RTI Act, and through you, Sir, I want to draw the attention of this House to that piece of information. Under RTI, it was asked as to how much money had been given to Aided colleges during the last thirty-forty years, and you will be surprised to know about the sum of money given. In our country, for last many months, we have been discussing about the 2G scam involving Rs.1,00,000 crores or something like that. From 1973 onwards, Sir, in Kerala State, just one State, as per our rough calculation, more than Rs.2,50,000 crore have been given to Aided colleges and schools. They get free land. They get free building grants. The pay for their faculty members and administrative staff and other expenses are paid by the Government. And, what is happening? Every year, almost Rs.10,000 crore are given to these institutions, schools and colleges in the State of Kerala. I am talking about one State only. So, you can imagine the kind of money which is going into these Aided schools and colleges all over the country. In one State only, Rs.2,50,000 lakh crore have been given. And, what is happening in these colleges? How is the faculty appointed? Relatives, friends and acquaintances of the management join there as faculty. There is no interview; just a sham interview is there. Either the relatives, friends of the management get the job as teachers, or, those who pay lakhs of rupees as bribe to the management get job as lecturers or teachers in those institutions.
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GSP-HMS-3K-4.45
SHRI PRAMOD KUREEL (CONTD.): Sir, a big scam is going on in these Aided colleges not only in the State of Kerala but also in the entire country. It is a serious matter, and, I wish to draw the attention of this august House to this big scam, which is going on in this country.
Sir, during the HRD Committee visit to three States in the month of January this year, I had a chance to meet a lot of people. I met the Vice-Chancellors, Professors, Bureaucrats, Students and Faculty members and all that. In Bangalore, some teachers from aided colleges met me and told that they were getting an amount of five, six or seven thousand of rupees per month as salary for teaching work but they were made to sign on vouchers of fifteen to twenty thousand of rupees. They said, if they raised their voice against all that, they would be thrown out. This is the kind of fear which they are having in their minds, and, that is why, they cannot raise their voice anywhere.
This is the problem, which they are facing. As Shri Balagopal has already pointed out, same kind of situation is there in the State of Kerala. Sir, I am sure, this problem is there all over the country, and, it is not only confined to States like Kerala, Tamil Nadu or Karnataka. The Government is paying money and these Aided institutions are misusing that money. Just now, Mungekar ji, who is not sitting here now, was referring to increase in grants for education sector in this country. It is a good thing. We need to increase the grants for education because the education sector is expanding at a very fast pace. Our requirements are increasing at a very fast pace. But just pumping in money is not sufficient. We need a strong check on things like how this money is being utilized or where this money is going on.
That is why, I welcome the Resolution moved by Shri Balagopal that we should have a strong law as well as strong rules and regulations to monitor all these things so that whatever money is given from the public exchequer to these aided schools and colleges is strictly monitored, goes in the desired direction only, and, is not wasted by the people having vested interests.
Our second question under the RTI was relating to reservation. The question was- “How much reservation is there in the aided schools and colleges in the State of Kerala, and, what is the percentage of SC, ST or OBC teachers in these institutions?” You will be shocked to hear the answer. As per the answer provided by the Government of Kerala, the total number of teachers in Aided institutions, which got Rs. 2.5 lakh crores in the last forty years from the Government, the percentage of teachers belonging to Scheduled Castes was mere 1.5 per cent, and, in respect of Scheduled Tribes, it was less than 0.1 per cent. Sir, it is 1.5 per cent for Scheduled Castes, and, less than 0.1 per cent for Scheduled Tribes is the percentage in these institutions, which are getting a lot of money from the Government of India and the State Government.
Why is this happening? This is happening because there is no monitoring or control over these institutions. They are being run as private limited companies. They can employ anybody. They can give any money to anybody. They are free to do anything. They are getting money from the Government, and, they are wasting the same for their private purposes or personal benefit. There is no such data with regard to the OBC category but I am sure that in the case of OBCs also, the situation is as dismal as it is in the case of SCs and STs. Sir, I strongly feel that the Government should look into this matter very seriously. It is a serious matter. It does not just pertain to the money factor that money is going waste but also to the fact that almost 70 to 80 per cent of students of this country are not getting any benefit of these Aided schools and colleges. I am not talking about Unaided or Self-Financing institutions. Because they are not getting any money from the Government, there is no reservation for SCs, STs or OBCs but the people who are getting money from the Government to the tune of lakhs and crores of rupees, they are not providing even two to three per cent reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs.
(Contd. by 3L
-GSP/SK-KLG/3L/4.50
SHRI PRAMOD KUREEL (CONTD.): It is a big fraud being perpetrated by these people on the people of this country, especially the SC, ST and OBC people of this country. I hope the Government will look into it and do the needful.
Finally, Sir, I entirely agree and support the views and sentiments expressed by Shri Balagopal and I urge upon the Government and the Minister who is fortunately sitting here, to formulate a policy, to bring a Bill to put an effective control over this kind of elements who are wasting public money, and not just for Aided institutions only, even for Self-Financed institutions and the Government institutions also. There are some other kinds of malpractices going on in Government institutions also. So, we should have a Bill, a strong and stringent Bill, to effectively control and monitor these institutions which are playing with the lives of our students. That is why many times our students are forced to commit suicide. Just last week there was a suicide case in IIT, Delhi. It was a first year student of IIT, Delhi. Many reports of incidents of suicides by our bright students are there in many newspapers and magazines. It is a very dangerous trend, Sir. So, I hope that the Government will look into it. I fully support the Resolution put forward by Shri Balagopal and thank you for giving me this opportunity.
Thank you
(Ends)
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