Kolkata: Eminent educationists and healthcare experts have called for recognising basic education and healthcare as universal rights rather than commodified services, emphasising stronger public systems to address inequality and the growing impact of climate change.

At a seminar titled “Education and Health for All: Promises and Challenges,” jointly organised by the Pratichi Trust and Climate24, academics, doctors, and researchers discussed the challenges facing India's health and education sectors “amid policy stagnation, commercial interests, and social disparities.”

Noted academic Pabitra Sarkar questioned conventional ideas of literacy, observing that “illiterate and uneducated are not synonymous.” He said earlier generations, though often illiterate, possessed “qualitative education” in social conduct, contrasting it with what he described as a decline in civic and moral values today.

Sarkar expressed concern over schools in West Bengal having no students, falling college enrolments, and declining interest in basic sciences. He called for an education system rooted in “scientific temper and nation-building.”

Veteran educationist Bhaskar Gupta advocated reviving the Kothari Commission's neighbourhood school model, which envisions one compulsory public school per locality and higher public investment in education.

Subhra Das and Sabir Ahamed of the Pratichi Trust showcased its micro-solar training programme as a model linking education to sustainable development.

Eminent physician and CPI(M) leader Fuad Halim highlighted the health effects of climate change, warning that rising night temperatures may accelerate mosquito life cycles and that warmer climates and coastal salinisation pose severe health risks.