CHENNAI: The recent assurance given by the school education department to reduce the number of school management committee meetings to once in three months have left educationalists worried.
The school management committees, which consists of parents, teachers and elected representatives, were reconstituted in the state in April 2021 in government schools across the state to ensure community participation in functioning of schools as mandated under the Right to Education Act. Teachers’ associations said it is difficult for headmasters to ensure that parents participate in the meeting on a monthly basis.
Tamil Nadu Elementary Teachers Organisations Joint Action Committee (TETO JAC) had urged the education department to reduce the frequency of SMC meetings as one of their 30 demands during the talks held with the school education officials and minister last week.
Many educationists have raised concerns as monthly SMC meetings are mandated under the RTE Act and say that reduction in the number of meetings deprives the community of its participation in children’s education.
The move to reduce the frequency of meetings can be attributed to conflicts between headmasters and SMC members in some schools and difficulties cited by the headmasters in ensuring parents’ attendance at the meetings. Block Resource Teacher Educators (BRTEs) note that headmasters and teachers sometimes clash with oversight members when the latter try to tell SMC members about their roles and responsibilities.
However, teacher associations argue that parents in many schools, particularly those in rural areas, are hesitant to attend monthly meetings as many of them are daily wage labourers. “Convincing them to attend these meetings is challenging. It is an additional pressure on teachers and they have to visit parents at their homes or workplaces to ensure their participation in the meetings,” said the head of an association affiliated with TETO JAC.
Su Moorthy, coordinator of Kalvi Membattu Kootamaippu and a government school teacher, said till now, administrative authority is fully rested with headmasters. Thenkanal of Palli Kalvi Iyakkam said those with a democratic approach accept the involvement of parents, while others may be less receptive to parents asking questions. “Despite these problems, we have to move towards transparency and address these issues in a fair manner,” he said and stressed on the need to train both parents and teachers regarding the functioning of the committee.