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Pune: Parents may soon have a greater say in decisions on school infrastructure, student attendance and academic quality, with the state education department launching a training drive to strengthen School Management Committees (SMCs) in 75,000 schools across Maharashtra. The department has allocated Rs 7 crore for the training programme. One such example is the Ayodhyanagar Marathi School in Chembur East, where an SMC-led effort between 2015 and 2018 helped secure civic action on issues regarding the school building, teacher shortage and academic improvement.
Therefore, members need to clearly understand their rights and responsibilities,” said education commissioner Sachindra Pratap Singh.
Members will also be encouraged to place parents’ concerns and suggestions before the school authorities,” said Singh. Educationist Arvind Vaidya said such experiences would be useful during training. Their experiences should be part of the school improvement process,” he said.
The initiative, being implemented under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan’s ‘Community Participation’ programme, aims to make SMCs more effective by helping members understand their powers, responsibilities and role in school development. “SMCs have an important role in planning for infrastructure, student attendance, academic quality and other requirements of schools. “The sessions will focus on preparing school development plans, identifying infrastructure and other requirements, monitoring academic quality and overseeing the use of funds. The department plans to use examples from schools where active community participation has contributed to improvement. “Parents should not merely be given responsibilities; they must also have the freedom and confidence to use the powers available to them.
Training for state-level trainers was conducted between Sept 15 and 17. They will now take the programme to district, taluka and school levels, where SMC members will receive practical training.