It was announced on Wednesday by the Union Ministry of Education that guidelines for the formation of School Management Committees include the selection of the chairwoman and vice-chairperson from among parents/guardians of the students.
The guideline states that there will be two sub-committees in the School Management Committee, namely, an academic subcommittee and a school building subcommittee, chaired by the principal/member secretary.
Speaking about the guidelines that he released, Dharmendra Pradhan, minister of education, said that even though the concept of school management committees was not novel because they have existed in different forms before, it is vital to make sure that the committees blend in with the educational system of the school.
In line with the National Education Policy 2020, the objective of the new guidelines is to enhance community engagement in schools, starting from pre-school up to class 12th level. The guidelines supersede previous recommendations on school management committees. States will use them as guidelines for developing directives.
As per the provisions laid out in the Right to Education Act 2009, schools are expected to constitute a school management committee comprised of teachers, parents or guardians of the child and elected local government officials. Three-fourths of the total number of members in the committee should comprise parents or guardians and at least half of these members should be female. As per the Act, these committees will have the responsibility of devising the school development plan and monitoring utilization of grants.
According to the regulations published on Wednesday, the composition of the committee would depend upon the number of enrollees in the school – 12 to 15 members if the number is less than 100; 15 to 20 members if the number falls within the range of 100 to 500; and 20 to 25 members if the number exceeds 500.
The committees will comprise parents and guardians representing all grades of students, elected representatives of the local administration, teachers, local educationists, academicians, old students, employees of ASHA, Anganwadi, and the school headmaster, along with the chairperson and the vice-chairman, who are parents and guardians.
At the beginning of each academic session, the head of the institution initiates the process of selecting the elected members of the committee. The term of members in these committees is two years.
