RS member red flags WTO pact on education sector

Raising concerns over a WTO pact related to education sector, a DMK member in the Rajya Sabha today said universities and government institutions will suffer if India signs the agreement.
The ministerial-level conference of trade ministers of WTO member-countries is going on in Nairobi, Kenya.
DMK Member Tiruchi Siva said this Conference is to convert all the proposals and networks brought in the year 1995 by General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Conference into agreement.
In 2004, he said, the government made an initial offer to entertain some services sectors to come into India and in 2005, it also included education in the services sector.

"...As long as it is in the initial stage, we can withdraw it at any point of time, but once we sign it and commit ourselves to an agreement, we cannot withdraw anything from that," he said during the Zero Hour.
"In that case, if at all we have to do, this will convert education as only a business in our country...The Government has to withdraw many subsidies which are being given to universities and colleges".

Moreover, the scholarships given on basis of social justice will also be stopped by the government, he said.
He further said there is a considerable fear among the academicians that signing GATTS means India would lose the prerogative of the government to frame national policies and regulate education in the interests of the people and undermine the right to education of every citizen.

"If it is signed, we have to face much more worse things in the future and social justice will also face a bad situation. All the universities, Government institutions will suffer.
"We urge upon the government not to sign the agreement and not to bring in education or liberalise it in our country to safeguard the interests of the educational institutes in our country," the DMK member said.