Why School Management Committee Failed

School doesn’t directly engaged parents in the class-room process, and the parents don’t make any effort to get involved either.  But the worst thing is, parents are given the opportunity to get involved in the affairs of the school through the School Management Committee (SMC), but they have failed to take full advantage of that opportunity. 

Most schools have planned for a monthly SMC meeting, and most of the time, the parents never showed up for the meeting.  Even when it was held, they just let the Head Teacher do all the talking, and even worse, when discussing about the class-room process, they just handed everything into the hand of the teacher saying that they know nothing and have full faith in the teachers.

The problem with SMCs everywhere is that, the average SMC members are people who can ill-afford to give up their daily wage to sit around in a meeting in which they don’t see any value, and they are usually illiterate. But worst still, they don’t feel they can hold a government school teacher or anyone in authority accountable as they thinks government school education is a free service, and as such, just a charity.

Also, apart from the charity aspect, parents who are uneducated find it very difficult to question an educated Head Teacher and so are unable to pressurize the HT to correct things, or take steps for grievance redressal if it involves interacting with government officials.

If the quality of our education in Government's schools is to improve, parents must not only get involved with the management of the school, but also must get themselves involved in the class-room processes, and take full ownership of the school and the education system itself!