THE CONTINUING RELEVANCE OF MAHATMA PHULE'S IDEALS ON EDUCATION

From fee hikes in private schools to struggles in indigenous education, India's education crisis shows Jyotirao Phule's ideals remain unrealised.

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The Delhi Cabinet on Tuesday approved a draft Bill to regulate fees in private schools. This comes after the Delhi Public School, Dwarka, was in the news for locking students in the library and barring them from attending classes over unpaid fees. Several prominent schools had come under fire from parents for allegedly raising fees without proper approvals.

The school fee-hike issue was brewing when the release of the Phule movie was delayed due to backlash. The movie based on the lives of Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule, visionaries in the field of education, was delayed "due to objections raised by the Brahmin community", according to the film's director, Anant Mahadevan. The film was released after some amendments suggested by the The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

Like the Delhi school fee-hike issue, most news reports about the state of education in the country highlight that Phule's ideals such as compulsory education for all are far from being fulfilled. The picture is grim, even 135 years after his passing from a life dedicated to revolutionising and making education accessible to everyone.

In 1882, Phule had submitted a representation to Sir William Hunter, Chairman of the Education Commission. In this representation, Phule vouched for compulsory primary education and the pressing need for women to get primary education. He said that education for the people in India should be given in a useful manner with need-based content. The representation also contained suggestions for the education of deprived children.

Drop in enrollment numbers