Momentum is being built up all over the country against imposition of the disastrous Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) programme. As a part of this campaign AISA activists have been initiating interventions in several universities.
Last week an eight member delegation of AISA met Prof. Pradeep Bhargava, member of academic council member, Govind Ballabh Pant Social Science Institute, Jhusi, Allahabad and also a part of the 5 member Parliamentary committee for implementing CBCS. They updated him on the disastrous effects of the CBCS. A member of the representative team and a Political Science research scholar Ankit Pathak said that in case of Allahabad University, the university was already facing a shortage of nearly 523 teachers as a result of which it was becoming difficult to manage the regular semesters and fulfil the basic requirements of the students. A programme like syllabus, on the other hand requires a large strength of teachers and provisions of basic infrastructural necessities. A member of the national council of AISA, Saurabh Yadav, said that CBCS was a step towards destroying the higher education system. He also added the other upcoming acts like Central University Act (CUA) and Rashtroya uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) (National Higher Education Mission) were also assaults on the autonomy of the higher education institutes. Another member of the AISA national council, Shakti Rajvar pointed out that this entire set of changes were being forced on by WTO-GATS on countries like India under the pressure of the World Corporate Powers. A heated debate took place between the AISA delegation and Prof. Bhargava. The AISA delegation insisted that CBCS be immediately revoked and students and teachers be informed about these upcoming proposals and the opinions of students and teachers of various departments of the university be sought. The members added that in light of the massive movement across the country against the proposed onslaughts on higher education, the specific concerns of students of AU be also taken up and addressed. Later the delegation invited the students to participate in the ‘Reject CBCS, Save Universities Campaign.
Meanwhile the ‘Reject CBCS’ campaigns are being organized in campuses across the country and AISA activists have been regularly meeting students, distributing leaflets and organising them against the ongoing onslaughts on education.
