Lucknow: Alleging that the BJP govt is denying quality education to children from poor and marginalised families, UP Congress in charge Rajendra Pal Gautam on Wednesday accused it of systematically weakening the public education system through privatisation.Addressing an interaction with intellectuals in Aligarh, Gautam claimed that govt schools were being shut while private schools were expanding, making quality education increasingly inaccessible to economically weaker sections.Questioning the state of public education, he said teachers recruited to govt schools qualify through the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET), yet many parents continue to avoid these institutions.He alleged that instead of strengthening govt schools by filling vacant teaching posts and improving infrastructure, the govt was promoting privatisation.Gautam said leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Dr BR Ambedkar, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Jawaharlal Nehru worked to expand educational opportunities for Dalits, backward classes and the poor through scholarships and public institutions.“Contrarily, the present govt was moving in the opposite direction by weakening public education,” he said.Later, while interacting with students at Aligarh Muslim University, Gautam described the youth as the backbone of the country and urged them to raise their voices against what he called attempts to weaken the education system.
