Vision Paper
Right to Education Forum
1.
Background
The
RTE Forum was established in 2010 as a broad alliance of all actors that advocate
for and defend children’s right to education in India. Its membership includes national
and state level education networks, allied networks having education as one of
its areas of work, individual organizations, academics and teachers across the
country. It seeks to unite civil society across the country in the pursuit of
the right to quality free public education for all up to 18 years of age.
The
RTE Forum’s founding aim was to support the implementation of The Right
of Children to Free and Compulsory
Education Act, 2009
(RTE Act) which had opened possibilities for civil society to work for improving
quality of school education in the country. It I
s intended to carry forward the debates and demands raised by groups and alliances like National Alliance for the Fundamental Right to
Education (NAFRE) and the People’s Campaign on Common School
System (PCCSS) in the past
and offer a large platform for likeminded groups seeking accountability of the
state for the realization of the right to education and in education. .
Its need
arises from the decades of the ruling class and the bureaucracy ignoring
the commitments to ensure universal, equitable quality
education for all in line with the promises made in the Indian Constitution,
the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (henceforth
RTE Act), international human rights law and policy recommendation to build a national system of
education based on the
principle of Common School System. In its place it has promoted a unequal, multilayered and segregated school
education system that breaches constitutional mandate and promotes privatization and commercialization of education.
The
present education system is widening the gap between the rich and the poor through
glaring discrimination and thus practices
a new form of apartheid - an apartheid based on caste, class and economic status.
The poor in general and the SC/STs,
minorities and other subaltern communities are worst affected through
this practice.
It
is in this backdrop, RTE Forum calls for a massive social movement, to hold the State accountable for ensuring fundamental right to education
for all children. This calls for the creation of an ever-widening
circle of like-minded individuals, groups and alliances, across states in the country,
to critically engage
with the state
and its apparatus to realize the longer objective of social transformation. The Forum is a not for profit and party apolitical entity committed to the
cause of education.
2.
Vision and Mission
Mission:
Right to Education Forum (henceforth, RTE Forum) promotes and defends the right to
education as a fundamental human right an as an instrument to build a just,
inclusive and egalitarian society in consonance with the core values enshrined in the Indian constitution and international charters and Legal instruments on human rights. It mobilizes public pressure on
national and state governments to ensure that they fulfill their commitments to
provide free, compulsory, public education for all children, particularly girls
and those from excluded communities.
Vision: The
Forum recognizes education as a social good and thereby views education as a crucial investment,
as also the pith and substance of human development. The Forum believes that school education of equitable
quality is the foundation for a child to realize her full human potential,
while education can and should have a socially
transformative role.
Principles
The RTE Forum believes that public education system
is the foundation of our democracy and is critical for India's progress.
Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen and protect the public education
system to ensure that all children - rich or poor , boys and girls - have access to the best
opportunities and fair and equal opportunities to learn and grow in neighbourhood
schools.
It believes that
·
Education
is our fundamental right and it is primarily the responsibility of the state to
ensure it for every child.
·
Every
child has the right to receive at least 12 years of free, publicly funded,
inclusive and quality, equitable education. In addition, children have the
right to at least two years of free pre-primary education and care
·
The education
system must ensure equality of opportunity and treatment for all and be free
from segregation, discrimination and (inequality) of any kind; It must promote (equity) and inclusion, respect diversity and address
relevant concerns of marginalized communities.
·
All
elementary educational institutions should comply with the (minimum)
educational standards and norms prescribed by the RTE Act.
·
The
quality of education depends on the availability of adequate number of
professionally qualified, trained and motivated teachers who deliver education
in a creative and supportive environment
·
Education
should not only mean acquiring literacy and numerical knowledge, but be transformative
in contributing to cultivating skills, life-values, knowledge in its citizens
to enable them to lead a dignified, happy and healthy life, make decisions on
their own and face new local, national and global challenges and develop
intercultural understanding
·
Government
schools in India have the potential to guarantee equitable, quality education
for all children and youth in the country.
·
It is
the right and duty of the citizens of the country to hold the state/government
accountable for implementing the right to equitable, quality education in the
country on the ground.
Values:
)
Participatory, accountable and transparent decision-making;
Mutual respect and trust
Cooperation,
collaboration and collective ownership and responsibility
Inclusiveness
and equal participation. Reject all forms of sexism, casteism, and any other
form of discriminatory and unjust behaviour
3.
Role
With firm
faith in the transformative role of education,
the Forum seeks to define its role along the following lines:
i.
The forum will work towards
bringing about a national system of
education to ensure comparable quality to all
children. The forum engages critically
and constructively with the
RTE Act to achieve the end goal of Right to Education rooted in public funded
Common School System
on the principle
of neighbourhood in the long run.
Common School System based on
the concept of neighbourhood
schools, in some updated form, appears to
be the most obviously desirable framework of public education, which has been endorsed by successive National
educational policies so far.
ii.
To define
and defend its position on a host of issues relating to education in general, and early
childhood and school education, in particular.
iii.
The Forum undertakes an
educative responsibility and consequent task of wider dissemination of rights relating
to education on the one hand and
the responsibilities of state actors on the other hand. It seeks thereby to
facilitate and strengthen its
advocacy with the state agencies, and larger campaigns in the society.
It will carry forward the debates
and demands of the network and take them down to the
state, district and sub-district levels drawing upon their experience and insights.
iv.
The
Forum also seeks to address the issues
of implementation on education at
different levels, from the national
down to the schools, in the perspective as set out above. The RTE Act enshrines the responsibility of the
State to provide quality education
for every child under the Act. Unless the implementing machinery realizes this objective faithfully, addressing the Act has little meaning,
and it is the
responsibility of RTE Forum to contribute its might in all manner to work towards this end for groups like dalits, tribals, persons with disability and
other vulnerable groups. Concerns for quality will need to be suitably addressed
if it is to be ensured for each child.
v.
We need to
bring schools run by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, MSJE, KGBVs etc into our
frame. How do we do this? We should include all schools run by the government.
We can exclude schools like Madarsas, Saraswati Vidyalaya etc – Not clear how
we do this.
The RTE Forum will take up many types of activities on its own or jointly
with partners and allies,. Some major tasks are listed
below:
Social
mobilization & Campaigning
i.
Promoting
debates and dialogue and building consensus
on issues relating to governance, equity and quality
of education for all
ii.
Bringing
together intellectuals and educationists, who can stand
in support of the efforts
of Forum
iii.
Making people aware of rights
to education at various levels among various strata of people
iv.
Associating different social groups,
including among others,
dalits, tribals, minorities and youths, with a view to broaden
the agenda and the level of
acceptability of Forum’s stand on various issues
v.
Undertake
campaigns to strengthen the implementation of the RTE Act and address new
emerging risks in the education system.
i.
Making possible interventions on larger social and political agenda along with associated groups
i.
Preparation
of advocacy materials, resource materials and
capacity building in response to address felt needs at state or local levels
ii.
Activation of SMCs and local
government to enhance their capacity to intervene on multiple issues,
iii.
Promote leadership through promoting issues of marginalized groups
Accountability,
Policy and Advocacy:
i.
Tracking the status of RTE to show the ground reality and offer concrete suggestions for better implementation
ii.
Disseminate
victories
iii.
Sensitizing the media and evolving effective communication strategies
iv.
Formation of support groups
inside the Parliament, state
legislators and among policy makers at both centre and state levels
v.
Developing
resource centres
vi.
International
engagement
vii.
Legal action
as a tool?
viii.
Engagement
with policy and decision-makers
i.
Ensuring accountability with regard to policy gaps, implementation
of the Act and opposition to the
anti- people policies or their implementation leading to commercialization and privatization of school education
Knowledge creation
ix.
Need for more
focus on policy-related work including publications and strategic work on more
politically complex issues
x.
Annual
Stocktaking report
xi.
Drafting
and dissemination of position papers on critical policy issues affecting the
network.
xii.
Budget
analysis covering different levels (national. state and local), and appraising both provisioning and utilization
Strengthening Organization building:
vi.
Adhering
to the principles of democratic participation and decentralization bringing diverse forces
working for the common people
on one platform for promoting universal right to quality education
vii.
Building
a synergy with teachers with a view to transform the schools by creating an inclusive environment conducive to universal quality
viii.
India in the world
•
Strengthen
support to the states including fundraising and technical support. Similarly,
more formalized processes for nurturing new consistencies e.g. youth to be
adopted
•
Need for
stronger fundraising focus
Issues
i.
Making
fundamental right to education a reality by proper implementation of RTE Act, 2009
ii.
Advocating for the
extension of the right to education for children up to 18 years of age
iii.
Opposing all forms of privatization and commercialization of education
either through PPP or by franchising education to corporate houses and non-governmental bodies
iv.
Equity,
gender, social exclusion, inequality
v.
Teachers, quality education.
vi.
Education Governance: community participation, grievance
redressal mechanism, financing,
structural reforms
5.
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
Members
of the RTE Forum must commit to adhering to the vision, mission and guiding
principles of the National RTE Forum.
Efforts
will be made to make decisions in the Forum by consensus.
There
will be a five-tier structure which will have different roles and functions. Four
of these are national bodies and the fifth consists of the
state forums.
The term of office for the position holders should
be for two years, with provision for one consecutive re-election/nomination. Care
should be taken to ensure that at least a third of the members should be re-nominated
to ensure continuity.
A. National level
1. National
Council:
This will be the
operational leadership of the forum in charge
of making key decisions, linking state and national processes, devising overall strategy for the longer term. The national
council will meet twice a year and will include state representatives as well as representatives from other
forums and experts. The members may
form into task forces to take forward
specific issues. The number, nomenclature and role of task forces will be decided by the National Council. To begin
with three task forces will be made operational on equity and inclusion, community ownership, and resource tracking.
The national council has to approve the vision document every 10 years and the
operating guidelines at least once in 5 years.
1.1
State Representatives: Each active State Forum will nominate 2-3 persons
(based also on the population of the state), of which
at least one has to be a woman, a representative of the LGBTQ community or who come
from socially excluded communities. Out of these the State
Convener of the State Forum of RTE Forum, by any nomenclature, will be the ex officio State representative. All state networks
will have equal voting rights irrespective of the number of members on the
National Council.
Representatives of networks that do not adhere to these
criteria can send one member to the National Council as Observer Networks.
1.2
Representatives from networks working on children’s right
to education: This includes forums/campaigns working on issues like child labour, early childhood care and education, education
in emergencies, SMC federations and other forums dedicated to working on the
right to education.
1.3
Teachers’ unions/forum representatives: Three representatives from teachers unions/forums across various
stages of education will be represented at the
national council.
1.4
Thematic experts: The council will have thematic
experts including individuals
(academics, researchers, subject experts) and organizations (including
think-tanks) to contribute to academic and technical
directions to the campaign.
1.5
Representatives from solidarity networks and advocacy
organizations: These include networks
which work on multiple issues which include education or organizations offering
support for tactics on campaigning and advocacy.
These could include
issues like Youth, Dalit rights, broad child rights, disability,
Tribal rights, minority rights, gender justice, fiscal justice, human rights, governance etc. and those bringing broad campaigning
and advocacy expertise to the network.
The National
Council shall:
1.
Approve the Constitution and internal
policies of the Forum.
2.
Discuss and approve the strategic
and annual plans of the National RTE Forum, any fiscal arrangements made for their
implementation and support the fund generation for the network.
3.
Approve the activity reports
and annual Financial Report of the Secretariat
4.
Approve the overall advocacy strategies
and policy positions taken by the Forum.
5.
Elect the Co-Convenors of the
Forum and appoints the Convenor of the National Secretariat on recommendation
of search committee.
6.
Discuss and approve the national
council membership of applicants from constituencies 1.2 to 1.5 based on the
recommendation of the Convenor.
7.
Decide the RE Forum’s risk
strategy and ensure mitigation to protect the credibility of the national RTE
Forum
2. General
Body
It will be
an open platform, meeting once in a while, if
possible, in an annual Conference,
which will include individual members of State Forums and national
networks, apart from the representatives.
Potential members may also be invited to such meets.
3. Core Committee
This is a core group of 19 persons tasked
with the implementation of the decisions of the National Council, including the
Co-Convenors on behalf of their regions. It includes the campaign conveners,
thematic experts, and representatives of education and solidarity networks/ advocacy
organizations. The National Convenor will
propose a list of members from among the list of National Committee members
for the Core Committee. The National
Council shall ratify the list proposed.
Its
members will support the National Convener and secretariat in day-to-day matters
whenever required.
The National Convenor is to convene a meeting of the group
at least once in three months. Attendance of at least one third of the members
of the Core group to be valid.
In addition, time-bound Adhoc groups may be constituted
from time to time to undertake specific tasks. Representatives or convenors of
these groups will be invited to the SG meeting as and when needed.
The Steering Committee shall
•
Implement the decisions of the
National Council to develop, realize the plans of the Forum in order to fulfill
its aim, mission and tasks and report six monthly to the National Council on
the same.
•
Appoint thematic and other
working groups to address specific issues in line with the objectives of the
Forum.
•
Adopt the social and
communication strategy.
•
To undertake any other
functions as may be delegated by the National Council.
4. National Secretariat
The operational arm of the campaign in charge of overall coordination,
liaisoning with the states, creating a knowledge and research hub, coordinating various national-level reports, linking
with other agencies
and networks, feeding
into government initiatives etc. The national
secretariat is to be strengthened with at least 3-4
programme team, one communication and dissemination person
responsible to collate,
update information and share it with the wider group. Basic research capacity
will also be essential in the team. The Secretariat will ensure that all
the records of the Forum are safety kept and submit six monthly on the
activities of the Secretariat to the Convenor.
5.
National Convenor and Co-Convenors
National
Convenor
o
The leadership for the Forum
will be provided by the National Convenor based in Delhi.
o
This would be a full-time paid
position and the incumbent should not be fully legally responsible for another
registered body.
o
The Convenor will be appointed
through a Search and Appointment committees.
o
He/she is expected to play the
following roles:
Coordination
o
Ensure
that the Secretariat and Forum have an annual plan in line with the Forum’s
mission,
o
Track
delivery of projects undertaken by the secretariat and monitors the work
undertaken by the movement
o
Fundraise
to ensure delivery of stated objectives as per the strategy.
o
Ensure
that the report of the SC and secretariat, Stocktaking and other events are
prepared and shared with the membership.
o
Recruit
and line manage staff in the Secretariat
Communication
o
Ensure
visibility of the Forum by building connections with the media, ensuring the
updation of the Forum website and other actions
o
Serve
as the Lead spokesperson for the Forum nationally and represents it on external
occasions.
Connects
o
Build the profile,
connections and credibility of the Forum with civil society organizations,
networks and other stakeholders including political leaders and the media.
o
Channelize work from states and supports work of members,
particularly the State RTE
Forums and states
o
Mobilize
new members
Advocacy
o
Build
and anchor relationship with key stakeholders including elected peoples’
representatives, education department, NCPCR/SCPCRs and other officials with a
role in education.
Others
o
Undertake any other thing
based on decision of NC
Co-Convenors
The National Convenor will be
supported by the five Co-Convenors who are also part of the Steering Committee.
The tasks of co-Convenors are as
follows:
Support and Coordination
o
Support
the state chapters in their region to develop annual plans in line with the
national plan and in view of the overall RTE Forum mission
o
Acts
as the bridge between the state Forum members and the National Forum and track
and support the work undertaken by the movement in their regions
o
Support
state chapters in their fundraising to meet the strategic objectives and annual
plans of the Forum
o
Support
state networks to undertake advocacy and build relationship with key
stakeholders including elected peoples’ representatives, education department,
NCPCR/SCPCRs and other officials with a role in education.
Connection and communication
o
Build the profile,
connections and credibility of the Forum with civil society organizations,
networks, media and other stakeholders including political targets and the
media in the regions and nationally.
o
Jointly with the National Convenor ensure participation from the
National RTE Forum during the elections/selections at state level in their
region.
o
Mobilize
new members.
o
Maintain
the list of Active, Candidate networks and other members of the national RTE
Forum.
Others
o
Undertake any other thing
based on decision of NC
The states falling under the
purview of the various regions are as follows:
|
|
State
|
Candidate networks
|
State lacking RTE Forum
|
|
North
|
HP, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,
|
Punjab, Haryana, Delhi,
|
J&K, Ladakh,
|
|
East
|
Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh
|
|
|
|
West
|
Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh
|
|
Goa
|
|
Northeast
|
|
Assam
|
Sikkim, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh
|
|
South
|
Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry
|
|
Kerala,
|
6. State Forums
1. The
RTE Forum aspires to have a State Chapter in each state in India. State forums will contribute to the aims of
the Forum by accepting organizations and individuals who subscribe to the aims of
the Forum.
2. The
state level forums have the flexibility of
having their own individual organizational structures. However, an RTE
Forum state network must
a.
Subscribe to the mission and
principles of the National RTE Forum
b.
Share
the state plans with the National Council and participate in the national actions
of the Forum
c.
Fulfill the criteria of an
active state network
d.
Submit a membership application
to the RTE Forum National Council for consideration and approval.
3. An active state network is one that has a
name, defined membership and leadership agreed upon in consultation with their
members, meet regularly and have undertaken at least two collective activities
in the preceding year.
Networks failing to meet these standards can be considered as observer
candidate networks.
4. Generally, the principle of consensual leadership and
decision making will be followed, in determining the leadership of the State
forum though not side-stepping a
transparent election process, if need be, for a greater
ownership on a revolving basis.
The State Chapters must undergo a process of renewal of the leadership of their
leadership on a regular basis, also inspired by the Forum structure, if
necessary. Leadership term. Committee. Inform National Forum to ensure that there
is representation from the NC in this meeting. Convenor and Co-Convenor will
determine the observer representative.
5. State chapters have
the following responsibilities to the National Forum
a. Develop their own
activities to fulfill the right to education in their own states.
b.
Work with other networks and allies to fulfill the national
plans of the Forum.
c.
Ensure that the state forum provides a broad platform for
activists working on right to education in the state and ensure that it is
diverse, representative of the issues addressed by the Forum and the social,
gender, disability and other diversity in the state. A list of members would be
maintained by each state.
d.
Carry forward actions and advocacy planned at the National Council.
e.
Lead on fund generation for activities to be undertaken in
their state.
f.
Undertake
enabling processes to decentralize
Forum’s presence to the extent possible taking it to the district and other levels.
g.
Build and support platforms to deepen the membership of the
forum including SMC federations, teachers, youth, parents or other critical
constituencies of relevance in their state.
h.
Present an annual activity report to the National Council.
i.
Ensure the attendance of their Convenor in National Council
meetings and, as often as possible, the other advocacy meetings being
undertaken by it.
B.
OTHER ORGANIZATIONAL
MATTERS
Plans
and Reports:
The
realization of the vision requires a five-year Operational Plan to be approved
the National Council. This will be broken down into annual plans.
The
National Convenor and Co-Convenors will submit to the National Council six
monthly reports and prepare an annual report of the work undertaken by the
National Forum nationally and in the states.
Finance and accounts:
The forum will receive support from its members and from
donors either in the form of grants or contributions in terms of time of its
members. All members of the Forum are to contribute to fundraising for the
realization of the Forum’s vision.
All state networks are encouraged
to raise funds to ensure that they can function independently and in line with
the needs and expectations of their members.
Funds raised by the National Secretariat
shall, depending on the conditions of the funders, be used to support its
functioning and advocacy/campaigning across the country. Any funding to support
active state networks may be allocated based on clear, transparent and
inclusive criteria and processes. All fundraising proposals submitted by the
Secretariat are to be shared with the Core Committee.
A transparent process of accounting and financial management will
be instituted whereby the NC is provided with an overview of the funding
streams. A Statement of Accounts
should be presented annually before the National Council along
with an Annual Report.
The Convenor and the Secretariat
will be supported by a likeminded organization or organizations in their financial
and administrative functions.
Risk analysis and
mitigation
The National Coordinator will develop a risk mitigation strategy which
will be implemented at the national and state levels.
Interpreting and amending
the Constitution:
This vision
document is to be updated once in 10 years.
The
responsibility of interpreting any of the clauses of this document shall be
vested in the National Council, and its decision on a question relating to its interpretation shall be final and conclusive.
.
FORUM
