Government schools have started holding school management committee (SMC) meetings, much to the satisfaction of parents.
The meeting is convened every month by the school head, who is the member-convenor of the 20-member committee entrusted with the task of improving the quality of educational delivery system.
The committee has a parent as the president, and another parent of a disabled child, or a sanitary worker whose ward is in the school, or parents who are under the category of AIDs patients/ SC/ST, or transperson. Besides, there is a large composition of 12 parents representing SC, ST, MBC, BC and De-notified Communities in the committee. Others in the committee constitute a teacher of the school, two representatives of local bodies; one academician or NGO representative or retired teacher, and a member of self-help group. Preference is given for women for as many as 11 members in the committee.
According to school heads, conveying resolutions adopted at the meetings of the SMCs pertaining educational requirements of the school and expectations of the local community to the higher authorities will be more effective than oral and written requests.
Since the SMCs have been entrusted with formulation of school development plans, there could be higher degree of attention to improvements in infrastructure, according to S. Sivakumar, academician who has been nominated as observer of School Management Committees in Tiruchi district.
There have been umpteen instances of SMC representatives taking part in the recent Grama Sabha meetings and articulating the requirements of the school to the local bodies, a headmaster said.
On their part, teachers are a relieved lot as SMCs will henceforth act as a support system for scaling up enrolment and preventing drop-outs for students from six to 14 years. The SMC is mandated with the task of liaising with the panchayat heads for identifying drop-outs and bringing them back to the schools.
