(Paulo Freire, complaint, announcement, prophecy, dream and utopia. – The book of prophecy: Brazil in the third millennium)

The edition number 3 of the Bulletin Unifreire dedicates the “Community Highlight” session at the Paulo Freire Institute from India. It was established on 29th February, 2004 and, this year, the institution completes its tenth anniversary. The Institute was formally inaugurated by Dr. A.K. Jalaluddin, the renowned expert in adult and basic education and it has being maintained by Satyen Maitra Janashiksha Samity, a partner Society founded in 2000.

The Advisory Committee of the IPF India is composed by members drawn from distinguished personalities/scholars in their respective fields and all members of the Institute are nominated by the society that helds it.

Indian Paulo Freire Institute has been in close touch with Paulo Freire Institute, UCLA, United States. The institution searches to build a network with other institutes around the world, aiming to be an active partner in the world movement on behalf of freirian ideas.

The meaning of its journeying

A section of the audience on the seminar “Freirean Ideas in the Twenty-first Century : Meeting the Challenges” (2013)

The Institute was established to propound freirian philosophy of education in India and, for this purpose, it plans to translate the works of Paulo Freire in different regional languages. Some works have already been been translated into Bengali. For the purpose of sharing freirian ideas with scholars from across the country and from abroad, the Institute holds Annual National Seminar every year rather on 19th September. In this date, the birth day of Paulo Freire, it is held a popular lecture on a topic of contemporary relevance.

During its existence, the Institute has held the seminars: “Contribution of Paulo Freire in Mass Education” (2004), “Mass Communication in Mass Education in the light of freirian Thought.”(2005), “ Adult Education in Transition : In Search of the of Adult Educators” (2006), “The Role of Mother Tongue in Education in the Context of Recommendations of Knowledge Commission.” (2007), “Freirean Concept of Education for Liberation in the Context of the Third World.” (2008), “Women’s Education Movement in India and the Role of Civil Society : Visions from Freire and Tagore” (2009), “Indian Society and Liberatory Education : The Importance of Freire and Tagore.” (2010), “Human Rights Based Approach to Education for All: Views from Freire and Tagore.” (2011) and, at last, in 2013, it happened the seminar “ Society, State and Education in India: Critical Issues from Freirean Perspective”.
Another IPF-India action is based on the campaign for applying the freirian pedagogy in formal academic institutions. This campaign is important in India because, until this moment. only one indian university has included Freire in its Masters on education.

India is a vast country. There is no dearth of philosophers of education. How can the ideas of Paulo Freire be applied in the same place along with the ideas of Indian philosophers? This question remains the basic challenge to applying freirian ideas on Indian soil. The Institute seeks to organize research identifying the areas where the freirian ideas can be applied with Indian features. This area of study is the core objective of the Institute so far.

Dr. Afzal Hossain, Honorary Director IPFI, delivering the Welcome Address on Freirean Ideas in the Twenty-first Century : Meeting the Challenges

The Institute intends to provide a platform for cultivating progressive ideas of different shades including ‘Critical Pedagogy’ in the field of education in India with a view to achieving social transformation. In this perspective, the institution also publishes journal and books on freirian ideas and other related themes. Among its publications, it can be found: “A Bengali Quarterly Journal” by Janashiksha Bhabna, “Paulo Freire : His Life,Work and Thought” and “Introduction to Freirean Terminology”, by Jaldhar Mullik, besides the texts in beganli: Muktir Janya Shiksha (Education for Freedom), Muktir Janya Sanskritik Prayas (Cultural action for Freedom ) and Paulo Freire: Jiban O Shiksha Darshan (Paulo Freire : Life and Philosophy of Education).