Date:04/12/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/12/04/stories/2005120418450300.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Education should not be commercialised, says ABVP

Special Correspondent

Protest planned in Bangalore on December 10

Commercialisation of education will hit backward communities and lower income groups

Central legislation on admissions to professional colleges sought

Bangalore: The ABVP will launch a protest movement to oppose education being brought under the General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS).

State ABVP General Secretary K.N. Raghunandan said here on Saturday that with the next round of WTO ministerial level talks to begin on December 13, the Union Government should oppose education being listed among tradable services.

"We are not opposed to foreign universities coming here or Indian universities going overseas; welcoming knowledge from everywhere is part of Indian culture but we are against education being equated with trade and business," Mr. Raghunandan said.

The ABVP would hold a protest rally at Mysore Bank circle here on December 10 and in all district headquarters, he said. By agreeing to treat education as a business commodity, backward communities and lower income groups will lose opportunities, he explained. The ABVP leader also demanded that a Central legislation for admissions to professional colleges in the country be introduced in the current session of Parliament itself.