NEW DELHI: Preparing to assert the Left’s presence in upcoming state polls next year in Punjab, UP and Uttarakhand where it proposes to field candidates in certain constituencies, the CPI(ML) Liberation is looking to build on the gains made by its students’ wing AISA with Gen Z during the recent Jantar Mantar protests by launching a nationwide outreach “School theek karo, shiksha sudharo” (Fix the schools, improve education) to focus on educational reform from primary to higher education levels.Focusing on educational reform from primary to higher education levels, the campaign, that also seeks to reach out to Gen Alpha, will be rolled out on Teachers Day on Saturday. Parallelly a series of public meetings will be held on students’ issues starting with a public meeting on Sunday in Patna. Youth, teachers, parents, civil society and concerned citizens are expected to come together in large numbers at the CPI(ML)L event to share their experiences on education ranging from the National Education policy to the examination system and paper leaks.CPI(ML)L general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya and AISA president Neha Bora will be present at the Patna meeting. The Left party also plans to reinforce its demand for bringing down the age of voting from 18 to 16 citing the increasing awareness and assertiveness of boys and girls in this age group, a reflection of which was evident in the recent student protests. Similar meetings will follow in Uttar Pradesh in Lucknow, Varanasi, Rae Bareli, Meerut, Allahabad, Gorakhpur, Azamgarh and Faizabad between September 9 and 18.
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“The Gen Z protests brought into focus the examination system and now we want to retain the momentum created by expanding the outreach. The ‘school theek karo, shiksha sudharo’ outreach will be a citizens campaign to convey to authorities by way of petitions and agitations at the grassroots level to demand quality education,” Bhattacharya said.With 2027 set to see states like UP going to polls, Bhattacharya said that the CPI(ML)L proposes to contest elections in Punjab by fielding candidates on seats where they have a grassroots presence largely in the Malwa region and also contest from some constituencies in UP and Uttarakhand either as a larger Left bloc if an alliance with other parties works out or else on its own.As part of the mobilisation, the CPI(ML)L will also be holding a major farmers conference on September 20-21 in Punjab to raise key concerns affecting agriculture, labour including the impact of the Indo-US trade deal on the sector.