A year on, RTE remains a dream

Chikep

Editor

posted on 12 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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With almost a year since the notification of right of children to free and compulsory Education Act, School Management Committees (SMC) are yet to be constituted for the schools in the union territory in accordance with the provisions of the Act.

As per Part V, Rule 14 of the Puducherry RTE a school management committee (SMC) has to be constituted in every school, other than unaided ones, within three months of the notification of the rules.

The rules of the Act had been notified on 27th October 2011, but such committees have not been formed in schools, as per the information received by Director of School Education E Vallavan. “There are around 300 government schools in the Union territory where these committees would have to be formed.” he said.

As per the rule, the SMCs will comprise of 12 members in addition to an ex-officio member, and would include parents, local body representatives, teachers and education experts in the area.

The SMC would check that the teachers are punctual and adhere to teaching norms, interact with parents regularly regarding the progress of their wards. SMC would monitor that teachers are not burdened with non-academic duties other than those specified in section 27 of the Act. It would ensure enrolment and continued attendance of all the children from the neighbourhood and bring to the notice of the Government or Local Authority any deviation from the rights of the child, in particular mental and physical harassment of children, denial of admission, and any lapse in provision of free entitlement.

It would also prepare a school development plan (SDP) once in three years. The SDP also includes three annual sub-plans.

“We have issued the government order for constitution of the SMC around two months back”, said E Vallavan. However it could not be constituted as the manual for this purpose is under preparation. The draft manual has been sent for modification as certain changes were necessary. It would be ready in 10 to 15 days time, thereafter the School Management Committees could be constituted, said Vallavan.