‘SMC Sabha’ bridges gap between parents and govt

In yet another initiative to improve the condition of government schools by involving parents, the Delhi government on Sunday organised the first-ever ‘SMC Sabha’ for School Management Committees (SMC) in Burari. An SMC consists of parents, teachers, members of NGOs and public representatives.

“The government is keen to involve parents and the community in the school administration. SMCs are playing a constructive role in improving the condition of government schools. This is an extraordinary event as it is for the first time that the government and parents are meeting, discussing and resolving the problems as a team,” said Manish Sisodia, Deputy Chief Minister, who is also the in-charge of the Education Department. 

Sisodia encouraged the parents to speak up about the problems that they had been facing. He added that strengthening and empowering SMCs had been the government’s top priority for more than a year. He said the SMC Sabha was one more step towards making the government accountable to parents of children studying in government schools.

 SMC members from 15 schools of Burari had assembled in the Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya (RPVV), Civil Lines, to share their grievances with government officials. 

SMC Sabha aims to provide a platform to parents so that they can raise their issues with the schools and the officials concerned. Sisodia sought tighter deadlines for the completion of work and pulled up officials, who were found to be lax.  He also followed-up the commitments made by officials to ensure timely completion  of that the promised works. 

When a parent complained of poor grain quality in Mid Day Meals, Sisiodia immediately inquired with the contractor and gave him a one-week deadline to improve the food quality, failing which the contractor would be penalised and replaced. 

On another occasion, when a group of parents from the Mukundpur School in Burari complained of delay in the construction of classrooms, Sisodia asked officials of both PWD and education department about it. When he found that the necessary files were stuck between the two departments, he asked both of them to convene a meeting on Monday and finish the paperwork by the end of the day.

“SMCs have changed the way Delhi government schools function for the better. With this, the government has become directly answerable to parents of children, who study in our schools,” said Atishi Marlena, advisor to Education Minister, who looks after the project.