The General Secretary of the All India Congress, former Union Minister, member of the National Congress Working Committee, and former President of the Haryana Congress, Kumari Selja, said that the countries and states where governments focus more on education witness visible development. However, due to the neglect of the government in Haryana, the level of education in state-run schools has deteriorated significantly. While smaller states like Jharkhand increased their education budget tenfold in a year, Haryana reduced education spending by 11.76%. There’s a vacancy of over 60% in academic staff positions in government colleges of the state, indicating the coalition government’s inclination to hand over education to private entities. If this happens, the government will conspire to deprive poor children of their fundamental right to education.
In a statement released to the media, Kumari Selja said that the report issued by the Reserve Bank of India on state government budgets revealed the reality of the Haryana government, which claims but fails to act. While Jharkhand increased education spending tenfold, Rajasthan increased spending on social welfare schemes by 24 times, but Haryana reduced education spending by 11.76%. In the previous academic session, 1,041,832 students were enrolled in primary schools, but this year, the number reduced to 920,899, indicating a decrease of 120,933 admissions. This indicates some deficiency in the government’s education policy and implementation. She said that the increase in the number of children enrolled in private schools compared to government ones, suggesting that parents, considering their children’s future, are opting for private schools over government ones. The BJP-JJP Alliance is conspiring to halt the recruitment of assistant professors in government colleges. In 2019, only 524 positions were filled in certain subjects. Several subjects have had no vacancies since 2016. There are 8,137 approved positions for assistant professors in government colleges, with 4,738 of them vacant. There are 2,932 teaching staff positions and 1,664 non-teaching staff positions vacant in the state’s 97 aided colleges. However, the government is paying no attention to this issue. If the alliance government’s conspiracy succeeds, aided colleges will eventually become entirely private. This will force millions of students to opt for expensive education, leading to the exclusion of rural and poor communities from higher education. Selja said that it’s the moral responsibility of the country and state governance systems to elevate the standard of education and provide basic amenities to citizens, but the opposite is happening under the BJP’s rule. The government can spend billions to bolster its false pride, but budget cuts in education raise questions about the BJP-JJP alliance government’s intentions and policies.
