Jamshedpur: Members of city-based NGO Shiksha Satyagrah led by district BJP spokesperson Ankit Anand were arrested on Friday during an agitation at Shiksha Prasar Kendra, Telco, to protest fee hike, commercialization of education and issues related to admissions.
Telco police arrested Anand along with other agitators including Appu Tiwary, Kumar Sourav, Vikram Pundit, Neeraj Dubey and Darsh Choudhary from the protest venue. The agitators were released on filling PR bond after an hour.
Among other demands, the agitators demanded the audit report of various private schools of Telco, especially Hill Top School. They demanded that the schools should do away with their instruction to parents making it compulsory for them to purchase books and uniform from fixed shops or dealers in the first place.
The schools should also return the building development fee to the parents and should also give 20 per cent discount on purchase of books and other study material to the students, Anand said.
Shiksha Satyagrah members gathered outside the Shiksha Prasar Kendra at 10 am for a meeting convened by its secretary Vishwa Mohan Prasad. During the meeting, Shiksha Satyagrah members were told they could not be given the audit report of schools. They were also told that only 10 per cent discount would be given on purchase of books. No commitment was made on fulfilling other demands raised by Shiksha Satyagrah members, said Anand.
Irked over this, the BJP spokesperson and other members of Shiksha Satyagrah sat on dharna and threatened to launch a massive agitation in support of their demands.
Anand said he had sought fulfillment of demands by Hill Top School, Gulmohar School, Shiksha Niketan, Little Flower School, Vidya Bharati Chinmaya Vidyalaya and Vivek Vidyalaya.
Agitation to continue till fulfillment of demands: Ankit Anand
Shortly after his arrest, BJP spokesperson Ankit Anand said the agitation would continue till all demands raised by Shiksha Satyagrah are fulfilled in letter and spirit. He said the Constitution of India was supreme and every individual and organization had the duty to follow it. He said the discrimination on the basis of employee and non-employee status of students in the private schools of Telco will not be tolerated.
�We will meet the Deputy Commissioner very soon and demand that the audit reports of all schools are made public. Till the audit reports are made public, school fees should not be allowed to be hiked. Our agitation is in the larger interest of all teachers, students and their parents,� said Anand.