CPM faults its own policy on education in Bengal

The CPI(M) today blamed its own policy for neglecting private institutions, re ferring to West Bengal where it said Muslims were lagging behind in education.

The CPI(M) today blamed its own policy for neglecting private institutions, re ferring to West Bengal where it said Muslims were lagging behind in education.

The party today released a charter for advancement of Muslims in the wake of the Sachar committee report. “I have a personal view on that (status of Muslim education in West Bengal). The party as a policy did not encourage private schools, like the Muslim-sponsored schools, or the private higher secondary schools,” CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat said. “It’s only lately that private educational institutions have started coming up in Bengal. And the gap remains.”

He said the party would also take steps to address the issue of poor representation of Muslims in government jobs, which is currently 4.2 per cent. He, however, described as “tokenism” the allocation for minotities in the Budget.

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The CPI(M) charter for the advancement of Muslims came after a sub-committee headed by MP Mohammad Salim studied the Sachar Report. Though it did not recommend reservation for Muslims, it said “Dalit Muslims” should be given quotas. “We are not calling for reservation. But, there should be special intervention for affirmative action,” Karat said. He called for an exercise to calculate number of Muslims in Other Backward Classes (OBC) lists in states where no such exercise has taken place so far.

The Muslims must also get adequate representation in recruitment in state and Central security forces. The party said schools, including residential schools imparting modern education for both boys and girls, must be built in all districts and blocks with a sizeable Muslim popula tion. Muslim girls’ hostels must be constructed.

The CPI(M) will now send the charter to various stakeholders following which there will be a national-level convention to finalise it.

Besides, it also called for the implementation of the recommendations of the Sri Krishna Commission report on Mumbai violence. The report had “indicted top politicians, police and government officers”, besides reiterating its demand for a CBI inquiry into the Gujarat riot cases in a time-bound manner.