In 1992, India witnessed a violent upheaval in the form of conflicts between the upper castes and the lower castes and between the Hindus and the Muslims, the former over special privileges in jobs and education to the members of socially and economically backward classes and the latter over the demolition of a 15 th century Mosque. These conflicts endangered the secular foundations of the Indian society.
After a series of consultations with educated Muslims in major cities of Gujarat , in which over 5,000 people participated, Sanchetana founded the Institute for Initiative in Education (IFIE) in 1993 to address the problems facing the Muslims.

A major concern expressed at these consultations was that a vast majority of Muslims are poor and illiterate, making them vulnerable to the machinations of politicians and the clergy who have shown little interest in the welfare and uplift of the common Muslims.
In the last 10 years, IFIE has mobilized hundreds of educated Muslims to participate in the struggle for a secular India by focusing on such burning issues as lack of education, unemployment, poverty, plight of women, civil liberties and human rights.
IFIE focuses on: 1. Education 2. Employment 3. Social Reforms and 4. Inter-communal relationship.

Segregation on communal lines in educational institutions has become a common phenomenon in Gujarat . An increasing number of Muslim parents consider it safe to send their wards to neighbourhood schools that have sizeable number of Muslim students. Since an overwhelming majority of teachers in these schools are Hindus, the Muslim students are paid less attention than the Hindu children, if not discriminated against.
IFIE decided to conduct coaching and tutorial classes for those who could not, for economic reasons, afford to join expensive institutes to make up for the poor quality of education in their neighbourhood schools. The coaching and tutorial classes for high school children were thrown open for both Muslims and Hindus. There are almost an equal number of Muslim and Hindu students in all the classes. Sitting side by side and attending classes together has helped remove mutual suspicion and misgivings among the Hindu and Muslim youths.

IFIE’s coaching classes became quite popular mainly because the teachers were highly qualified and the fee was as low as Rs 20 a month. Moreover, the teachers could attend to the special needs of individual students because, unlike other coaching classes run on commercial basis, the IFIE classes enroll only a limited number of students.

training to the teachers. Over 2,000 students have passed out from these centres in the last eight years.
In Ahmedabad, IFIE works in three communally-sensitive areas of Danilimda, Behrampura and Jamalpura. Besides running coaching classes for school children, IFIE carries out the following activities:

• Computer classes and a public library at Shah-e-Alam.
• Celebrating inter-communal festivals.
• Leadership development camps for youths of both the communities.
• Cultural programs in which youths from different communities participate jointly.
• Workshops and seminars for promoting inter-faith understanding.

IFIE works with 72 groups/associations of youths having a membership about 1800. These young men and women volunteer to shoulder various responsibilities whenever IFIE organizes such events and functions as public-speaking competitions, cultural programs, celebration of festivals, taking out of rallies to promote communal harmony.

IFIE also provides a platform to social and human rights activists, intellectuals, writers, journalists and performing artistes where they come together to discuss issues of common concern. IFIE is facilitating formation of a state-level network of NGOs and individuals that will work for the promotion of secularism and communal harmony. It has so far held three regional-level consultations in Gujarat for this purpose.