Jairam Ramesh calls free coaching plan a gimmick; Pawan Khera condemns Ahmedabad clash
New Delhi: The Congress on Friday attacked the Narendra Modi government over its approach to education, questioning the Prime Minister's announcement of free online coaching for competitive examinations and condemning the assault on participants at a reading session on Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai's memoir in Ahmedabad.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh described Modi's free online coaching announcement as an “accountability-evading gimmick”, citing the implementation of an existing Free Coaching scheme of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
Ramesh said the ministry was expected to enrol 10,500 candidates for free coaching over three years, but had enrolled only 2,790, or around 26 per cent of the target. He alleged that the scheme's budget had been reduced every year and that expenditure last year was less than half the allocated amount.
He said the figures were contained in the latest report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the ministry of social justice and empowerment, tabled on August 10.
Ramesh said Rahul Gandhi had raised the issue of the growing coaching industry and its impact on public education at the ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ event in Kota on June 17. According to him, Gandhi had pointed out that Indian families were spending 2.5 times more on coaching centres than the Union government's investment in education.
Ramesh claimed that Modi subsequently announced free online coaching in his Independence Day address on August 15 in response to growing public pressure.
Modi had said free online coaching for various competitive examinations would reduce the financial burden on poor and middle-class families. He had also announced AI training for one crore young people.
Separately, Congress leader Pawan Khera condemned the alleged assault on participants at a reading session of Yousafzai's memoir, I Am Malala, at Vastrapur Garden in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
Police said around 18 to 20 people claiming affiliation with the Bajrang Dal and Vishva Hindu Parishad confronted the participants after the session. An altercation followed in which two people were injured. The attackers allegedly carried sticks.
Police arrested three people and registered an FIR under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita relating to rioting, unlawful assembly and causing physical pain.
Khera described the incident as a product of “ignorance” and “communalism”, pointing out that Yousafzai became internationally known for opposing the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and advocating girls' education.
The incident comes weeks after a private school in Ahmedabad dropped books by Yousafzai and Holocaust survivor Anne Frank from its mandatory reading list following protests by right-wing groups.
