Tamil Nadu: Federation of All Christian Educational Institutions protest against National Education Policy

The Federation of All Christian Educational Institutions staged a demonstration in Coimbatore on Saturday, protesting against the draft National Education Policy 2016, terming it as an 'infringement' on the constitutional rights of minority institutions.

About 1,000 agitators, mostly teachers, correspondents and management staff of 140 institutions, from Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode and Karur districts, participated in the demonstration, raising slogans against the move to implement the policy. Maria Joseph, Federation convenor, alleged that the Centre wanted to bring back the Varnashram and Gurukulam model of learning, raising a question mark on the sovereignty of the nation.

Alleging that the new policy would deprive minority institutions their rights under 30(1) of the Constitution, senior correspondents of various institutions said the move was also an infringement on the rights of states to decide on matters pertaining to education. They demanded that the government set up a committee, comprising representatives from Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe, Minority community, experts and women to discuss and frame the policy, which would be beneficial to all sections of society.