Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma has said that the government is bringing out a new education policy soon to improve the education in the state.
Sharma accepted that education in private schools has become expensive and a common man is finding it extremely difficult to get a good and inexpensive school for children. He said, 'Public schools are running open markets inside their premises for books, uniforms, and other related stuff. This practice will soon be brought to an end and even the uncontrolled hike in school fees will be brought down.'
Dinesh Sharma, who also holds the education ministry, talking about the steps to improve the state of education in UP, said, 'The government is formulating a new policy in which school managers, teachers, and students have all been asked for their opinion. The school fee will be controlled and frequency of changes in the syllabus and uniforms of the private schools will be governed by this policy as well.' A committee has been formed by the government and it will soon give its report on this issue.
Sharma said that private schools are not giving salaries to their teachers, adding, 'Most teachers are hired at salaries of less than Rs 5,000 a month, while they are asked to work for 8-10 hours. Government will make a rulebook for this as well. Teachers will get salaries that can help them live a respectable life and raise a family too. The Salary Charter for schools will be issued pretty soon.'
Commenting on the new policy, social activist Mohd Arif said that if the government pays special attention to education and the state of buildings in schools, it could result in an improvement in the overall education system in Uttar Pradesh.
'Parents send their children to private schools only because the government schools do not offer the quality of education needed for building future of students. 30 years ago, there were few private schools while most of the people used to study in government-run schools. Now the situation has reversed and government schools are shutting down for the lack of students, private schools are opening in every nook and corner. This practice needs to be ended, as this is creating a huge imbalance between private and government-run education institutes,' the social activist added.
MUSLIMS SAFE UNDER BJP RULE
The Deputy Chief Minister talking about the recent debate on if Muslims were safe under the new government, Sharma promised that the mnority community will remain safe under the BJP's rule, both on the national level as well as in the state. He assured Muslims that the rumours about the BJP being anti-Muslims were being spread by the parties that had lost the elections badly and wanted to create an atmosphere of fear.
Talking to India Today, Sharma said that Muslims have always been an integral part of the BJP and they are completely safe under the Modi and Yogi governments. 'Even in the future, Muslims have no reason to fear,' he said. Sharma asserted that the law is the same for everyone and there was no difference in the eye of the law on the basis of caste or religion.
Asked a question about the Yogi government's policy on slaughter houses, Sharma said that only illegal slaughterhouses were being closed while the licensed ones are operating unaffected by these closures.