COIMBATORE: The All India Forum for Right to Education (AIFRTE) has chalked out a six-month plan to stage demonstrations and protests across the country against the central government, to prevent it from treating education as a 'service' in the World Trade Organization- General Agreement on Trade Services (WTO-GAST).

India, after having been offered to include education as a service in its agreement with the WTO in 2005, may commit the same to the WTO in the 10th ministerial meeting scheduled to be held between December 15 and18, at Nairobi.

The WTO-GAST is an agreement framed by the WTO in 2000, and expects its 160 member countries to commit sectors like education and health as 'services for trade'. This, if a country commits, will allow that sector to be traded for money to other member countries.

For example, if India commits for education as a service available for trade, then foreign institutions will be allowed to open their centres in India, will force students to join colleges in other countries for a higher fee, and allow teachers from other countries to enter Indian institutions and teach students.

Ramesh Patnaik, organising secretary of AIFRTE said, "The agreement calls the students as 'customers' and colleges and universities as 'service providers'. If we allow education to be traded for money to other countries, the economically backward and disadvantaged sections may lose access to education completely."

He added, "In India education is a constitutional right, and we have introduced an Act for primary and middle-school level education. But, all these will be nullified if it is termed as a service for trade."

Prince Gajendra Babu, south zone secretary of AIFRTE, said this will also reduce the powers of the apex bodies of higher education like the University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council for Technical Education, Medical Council of India, Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE), Bar Council of India, Architecture Council and other related bodies.

"If there is a problem that pertains to a university or a school or a college, the public will not be able to raise complaints with the state or the central government, or any of these governing bodies. This is because after committing to the WTO, we will have to follow rules set by WTO for education," said Gajendra Babu.

The AIFRTE held its fourth annual meeting in June, and decided to hold a series of protests until the 10th ministerial meeting of WTO at Nairobi between December 15 and 18 this year. On August 9, they will hold demonstrations and talks in educational institutions across India, on Sept 28 and Oct 2, protest at the district headquarters of all AIFRTE centres, from Nov 1 to 10, demonstrations at state headquarters and from December 13 to 18, AIFRTE will hold resistance protests in Delhi. A delegation of AIFRTE will go to Nairobi to join the protest with organizations across the globe.

