Balmukund Pandey, secretary of ABISY, was present at the meeting and he praised the National Democratic Alliance government for being “worried about the condition of Bharatiya education”, which he feels is defective in many ways. “Teachers have lost the respect they used to get in society,” Pandey told Newslaundry. “From being teachers for 24 hours, they are now doing it for two, three hours. Also at the primary level, government has burdened teachers with so much work that they can’t discharge their duties effectively. Students are simply weighed down by heavy school bags and unaware of what to do. Government schools have been weakened and on the other hand, private schools are doing quite well. All these things have to be fixed in order to improve education,” he said.