Education NGOs and CSOs in India

Widespread education-related work by NGOs, and Civil Society, has been a relatively growing phenomenon. Their important contribution has been not only in grassroots educational work, but also in terms of contributing to national educational debates and helping to make education a key political issue. According to a survey conducted by the Society for Participatory Research in Asia, around one in five NGOs focus on education (2009). They mostly focus on the education of disadvantaged groups, such as women and children, in both urban and rural areas. Like the trade unions of other Indian industries, teachers’ trade unions are fragmented. There is no dominant union, though the largest are the Federation of Educational Associations, All India Primary Teachers Federation, All India Secondary Teachers’ Federation, and the All Indian Federation of Teachers Organisations.