RV University School of Law hosts Distinguished Public Lecture on ,‘Constitutional Travels through Education’
Bengaluru : The Attorney General of India, Mr. R. Venkatramani, has called upon public policy makers, economists, lawyers, parliamentarians and managers of higher education to work concertedly for widening access to higher education without compromising on its quality.
Delivering a Distinguished Public Lecture on the ‘Constitutional Travels through Education’, organized by the School of Law, RV University (RVU), Mr. Venkatramani said that education was one of the tools to rectify discrimination and advance equality in India. Addressing the issue of equal-opportunity education in the socio-political context, he pointed out that the legal profession and legal education, especially, provided subaltern groups with a lexicon of rights and hence, the right to education and the right to equality buttressed each other.
Speaking of the activism of the Supreme Court of India in the field of higher education, the Attorney General observed that the jurisprudential perspective sees education as a public good to be equally distributed among citizens, irrespective of caste, creed or religion.
He, however, pointed out that with increasing privatization between the ‘80s and the ‘90s, the idea that education was a public good to be distributed equitably among citizens was challenged. Privatization could make education a commodity, much like any other in the market, to be sold, subject to forces of demand and supply, competition, and quality of the product. It was in this context, Mr. Venkataramani noted, that the Supreme Court declared in 1992 that charging a capitation fee violated the right to equality of educational opportunity.
Mr. Venkatramani reflected, in particular, on the field of legal education. He felt law, like liberal arts, is today a viable and sought-after course of study, with an increasing percentage of female students taking up legal education.
Welcoming the Attorney General for India to the RV University campus, Vice Chancellor, RVU, Prof. Y.S.R. Murthy said, “Attorney General is the No. 1 Law Officer of the country and his assistance to the Government of India on complex and intractable legal and constitutional matters very much.”
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Venkatramani said, “The purpose of education is to fulfill the community’s goals. Legal education in India ought to evolve in such a manner as to address the justice needs of different social groups or communities.” He further added, “For instance, not all matters required an adversarial mode of justice. A large number of cases required conciliation or mediation as well.”
Echoing the Attorney General’s views, Dr. M.P. Shyam, President, Rashtreeya Sikshana Samithi Trust (RSST), acknowledged that the RV educational institutions, despite being private institutions, have increased access to education among all sections of society. He referred to the 70th Anniversary celebrations of the RV Teachers Training College and RV Teachers Training Institute and other significant milestones achieved by the RV Girls High School, NMKRV PU College and NMKRV Degree College for Women.