Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia announced on Thursday that with the new Budget next year, ₹3 lakh to ₹4 lakh will be allocated by the Aam Aadmi Party government to each School Management Committee (SMC) for developmental purpose.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia interacted with 16,000 School Management Committee members and launched the SMC app that will enable the SMC members to interact with the education department officials. The app will decrease paperwork, bring transparency and ensure coordination between the schools and the education department. SMCs provide oversight in schools to ensure that all basic requirements of the schools are being met as per the Right to Education Guidelines 2009. Each SMC comprises 16 members, of which 12 are parents. The members of the SMC were elected on 25 November for a period of two years.
Mr. Sisodia said, “The SMC was created for the betterment of teaching and learning process in schools, and to ensure community participation. Till now, the SMC fund consisted of ₹4 lakh for the morning shift and ₹1 lakh for the evening shift. The government did not provide funds to hire teachers instantly. With the new Budget next year, a policy is being formulated to provide the SMC of every school with a fund of ₹3 to ₹4 lakh, depending upon the strength of students in each school.”
‘Topmost priority’
Mr. Arvind Kejriwal, discussing the contributions of SMC, said, “Education is the topmost priority for the AAP government. In the past two years, a revolution has been brought about in the education sector of Delhi, for which the credit goes to the teachers, principals, the education department and, most of all, the members of the SMC.”
