Mr. Subhasis Chakrabarti

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Mr. Subhasis Chakrabarti : National Alliance for Right to Education & Equity (NAFRE)

Mr. Subhasis Chakrabarti - Member, National Executive Council, National Alliance for Right to Education & Equity (NAFRE);
GM- Development Support, CRY-Child Relief & You

What are the issues in education that NAFRE stands for ?
NAFREE is a national movement on ensuring Right to Education and Equity in Education. We believe education cannot be treated as an issue in isolation and is very much linked with other issues of the deprived masses. When NAFRE talks about education it does not imply only school education. Infact it is about creation of a mass movement that leads to realization of Right to Education in true sense, where everyone fights for ensuring the right.

In another words it is not only about education programmes, budgets and curriculum, but about creation of a ground swell of highly aware masses on their rights. NAFRE also not only emphasizes on infrastructure and quality of education but also content of education. Moreover the focus is not only "how to teach?" but "What to teach?"

What was the genesis of this mass movement on education that you are seeking to create ?
The present shape and structure of NAFRE owes its origins to a campaign called 'Voice of India' (VOI). At that point of time the initiative was taken by few organisations who had been talking about Fundamental Right to Education. VoI collected mass signatures in favour of the 83rd amendment Bill on fundamental right to education. And that was presented to the then PM and the President of the country. Later on 10 organisations (CRY, UNICEF, Bodh, VERS, SCF-UK, NFI, Yuva, Pratham,) which were in the VoI campaign in 1997-98 formed NAFRE (National Alliance on Fundamental Right to Education). At that point NAFRE was pressurizing government to pass the bill on Right to Education in the parliament, without any suggested modifications. Thereafter CRY was asked by the founder members to take the leadership of NAFRE, post which the NAFRE was broadened to include state alliances and networks in the decision making process within the body. At this time NAFRE also analyzed the Education Bill and considered it from the view point of the disadvantaged.

After the due analysis NAFRE raised the following issues in the bill:

The age group of 0-6 was totally neglected in the bill
A time frame on ensuring the Right to Education was absent
The financial commitment on part of the government was not specified
There was no definition of 'free' education
The clause on parental compulsion was totally discriminatory

Later NAFRE was named as "National alliance for right to education and equity" to emphasize the aspect of equity.

You just mentioned about NAFRE's emphasis on the "How to Teach" aspect.
Please elaborate.
NAFREE is a movement. A movement that has the capacity to influence education system and critique methodology of teaching. We believe that the current way of teaching neither attracts children nor provides proper education. The teaching methodology needs to be pro-child that attracts them, is innovative and contextual. With contextual we mean that the education has to consider geo-specific cultural diversity. It has to imbibe elements of local culture and tradition.

How big is NAFRE's membership base ? What is your governance structure ?
NAFRE has a presence in 15 states. NAFREE is a federation it is not a close knit body. It has a structure of an association which includes state alliances, networks, trade unions, teacher unions, national organisations and individual members. Today we have more than 2000 NGO members.

All state alliances and other representatives are member of a general body which meets every after three years in the Congress. The National Congress elects the National Executive Council (NEC). NEC has elected representatives of founder members, national organisations, individual members, trade unions, teacher unions and each state alliance. The national convener and a five member National Working Committee (NWC) is further elected from the NEC. The tenure of the NEC is three years. The NWC has an office and is headed by a National organizer. Each member of the NWC heads a committee on Communication, Policy/Research/Advocacy, Coordination with State Alliances and Coordination with National/International Organisation/ Networks.

The 83rd amendment that later became 93rd amendment to the constitution was passed in the parliament.
Could NAFRE effect the changes recommended by it in the passed version ?
NAFREE was able to create large scale awareness on the loopholes of the Bill on Fundamental Right to Education. As a result a big mass of 70000 people congregated at the Ramlila Ground at New Delhi in November 2001 to rally against the bill and demand positive changes. NAFRE also opposed the content of the draft bill (legal) when it was introduced. As a result NAFRE was inducted in several sub-committees working on the issue. At the national level Ministry of Human Resource Development invited NAFRE at various consultations on the issue.

The issue of equity in education and the concept of Common School System (CSS) that only NAFRE talked about were very well received. The CABE committee formed sub-committees that were given the task to report back to the government on CSS and the legal Bill on education.

In its 7 years of existence what is the impact that NAFRE has been able to create ?
The impact has been manifold-

First education that was understood to be a soft issue became a political issue amongst the common masses and the middle class, specifically amongst the disadvantaged.
The issue of Education that was all this while confined to school and class-room became an issue of life
Under the 'School Chalo Abhiyan', we have been able to reactivate scores of government schools and demand for new schools
A pressure was built on the government to allocate more (as recommended by various committees, appointed by GOI from time to time) financial support to education. In the process also sensitizing intellectuals, government, media and general masses.
It was for the first time post-independence that such large masses came together to fight for an issue.

What is the criterion for membership to NAFRE ?
According to our MoU with the state alliances all memberships from the state have to come through the respective state alliance. At the National level certain individual, national organisation and networks are given membership. The constitution of NAFRE very clearly lays down the criteria for such memberships. Broadly these members should have a definite experience in education and agree to the oath and mandate of NAFRE. For example FORCES who work in Early Childhood Care & Education for children in the 0-6 age group and All India Teachers Union are the members at the National level.

As a Founder Member of NAFRE, a federation of 2000 and more NGOs, how do you think credibility of the sector can be enhanced ?
The credibility of the sector can be enhanced by practicing accountability and transparency both in terms of programme and the financial aspects. NGOs that are accountable to all their stake holders will enjoy better credibility. The NGOs should have democratic processes within their organisation. They should also run programmes that are contextual and not funding driven. At NAFRE we practice all of these, as is evident from our governance structure. The committees in the NWC have a strong internal and external communication process, which makes us transparent. While NAFRE has derived a lot from its members on this aspect, members have also learnt from the processes at NAFRE.

How does NAFRE raise resources ? Are corporates contributing to it ?
The 70% of NAFRE's budget is supported by CRY. We are now also receiving individual donations. There has been campaign based support by other Funding Agencies. We don't follow the membership fee model.

No, we have not asked for corporate support. There has been a big debate on the issue within. The common belief is that the role of corporate sector in the last 40-50 years on the relevant issues is still not very acceptable.

What are the new issues that NAFRE plans to highlight in the coming times ?

The issues and activities planned by NAFRE include:

The movement on CSS was launched in the last August to generate awareness on the concept and its significance in the present context. This year the focus is on identifying mechanisms of establishing of CSS. This would involve holding of consultative meetings with experts, students, children, government, media and masses (parents). At the end of which recommendations would be made to the government for implementation.
We will be organising a South Asia level conference on 'Equity in Education'. It is a firm belief that without equity in education there can be no equity in the society. We view education as a medium of social transformation. The idea is to receive solidarity from countries in the South Asia and then spread it to other countries too
Right to Work (for adults) and Right to Education for Masses (children). A mass scale initiative in this direction has already been started.

How can small grass-root NGOs benefit from being part of NAFRE ?
The involvement of small NGOs in the movement can lead to their perspective building on various relevant issues. They would derive a lot of satisfaction from being involved in a national movement for social transformation, adding to the good work being already done by them at the micro level. They can be part of the various workshops/forums and voice their opinion.