The All India Shiksha Sangharsh Yatra is being organisesd by All India Forum for Right to Education (AIFRTE) in association with a large number of democratic organisations active in the field of education from 2nd December to 4th December 2014 with a view to oppose commercialisation and communalisation of education.

The Yatra aims to unite people in the struggle for a completely free and compulsory state-funded system of Common Neighbourhood Schools for all children upto 18 years, i.e. upto Class XII. Education upto post-graduate level should also be free so that no child is denied the right to educate herself. The Yatra demands a complete ban on child labour. The state, as in all countries which have successfully universalized school education despite having different social systems, has to provide for quality school diet, uniforms, and academic requirements for all children including children with disability.

The Yatra will encourage public debate among the people on the nature and implications of education policies, and expose governmental designs of “reforming” public institutions to create, expand and protect markets for private profiteering. The Yatra opposes the retreat from the constitutional values of social justice, equality and freedom of expression, and discredits attempts to inject class, religious, caste, gender and disability bias and prejudice into our education system. The present NDA Government’s attempts to push through projects of “sanskritization” and “saffronization” of education will be firmly resisted as they violate republican ideals and promote caste and religious hegemony. 

SAHMAT through its campaign against communalisation of education and history has always stood in the forefront to resist such regressive steps. The recent meeting between the BJP  HRD minister and the RSS topbrass is alarming.

SAHMAT fully support this Yatra.

SAHMAT appeals to all to participate in the Yatra whereever possible. The details of the programme are available on- www.aifrte.in

With Warm Regards,

Prabhat Patnaik                                  

Sohail Hashmi                                    

P. K. Shukla
D. N. Jha                                               

Madangopal Singh                             

Lata Singh
M. K. Raina                                         

Dinesh Abrol                                        

Amar Farooqui
Ram Rahman                                     

Archana Prasad                                  

Vivan Sundaram
Romi Khosla                                       

Arjun Dev                                           

Indira Chandrasekhar
Indira Arjun Dev                

Teesta Setalvad                                  

C. P. Chandrasekhar
Javed Anand                                     

N. K. Sharma                                       

K. Ashok Rao
Rahul Verma