Gujarat: Protest against private affiliation of grant-in-aid colleges

AHMEDABAD: Members of Gujarat State Professors’ Association have decided to protest at colleges in an attempt to voice their concerns about the Gujarat Private Universities (Amendment) Act 2021 which was passed earlier this year.
On Wednesday, several professors wore black ribbons on their arms for work in about 300 colleges across the state as a mark of protest, according to a media statement by Gujarat State Professors’ Association.
The association members are of the view that the new set of rules will make education costlier and give way to further privatization of the education sector.
The new law, passed in the state assembly earlier this year, makes changes in the Gujarat Private Universities Act 2009 where private universities, which were not allowed to affiliate with grant-in-aid colleges, can now do so.
However, the universities and grant-in-aid colleges to be affiliated should run by the same management or trustees.
The association has stated that if the amendments are implemented, the fees in grant-in-aid colleges imparting education at concessional rates may increase. This will make these colleges unaffordable for the middle-class and economically weaker sections of the society.
Also, this could put to stake the faculty members employed by the grant-in-aid colleges and lead tochanges in other benefits received by them, they said in a statement.
The members of the state association as well as some members of the All India Federation of University and College Teachers Organizations (AIFUCTO) have raised these issues in a letter sent to Gujarat governor.
The members of these associations have demanded that the government goes back to the earlier rules where the grant-in-aid colleges were not allowed to be affiliated with private universities.