Networking

In recent years we have been involved in networking with other organisations working at the state level. We are a founder member of a state level alliance called WBEN (West Bengal Education Network) which was formed in 1996. This is a network, of 38 partner organisations having education as a major thrust. Our role in the networking process is sensitising them about several macro issues concerning education and widening our base of campaign for equitable quality of education for all children.

Apart from networking with NGOs, we believe in facilitating GO-NGO interface, paving the way for meaningful co-operation. We have worked with SCERT (State Council for Educational Research and Training) in the past. We are working with Paschim Banga Rajya Prarambhik Shiksha Unnayan Sanstha (formerly WBDPEP), the state office of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. We have also started working with West Bengal Board of Primary Education and Sishu Shiksha Mission. All these experiences have given us an understanding of the system and the structure of education in our state.

As one of the founder members of a national forum on education called NAFRE (National Alliance for Fundamental Right to Education), we are actively involved in the campaign for Right to Education. The alliance (formed in 1998) was conceived as a platform to give voice to thousands of people working at the grassroots, to come together and act as a collective force by forming a pressure group at the national level. It believes that strengthening and consolidating micro-level initiatives are critical in achieving universalisation of education.