|
During my discussion with a Ranapur Block Janpadh, he mentioned that the
Panchayats are kept away from the schools. There is no link of the panchayat
to the schools. My discussions with Sarpanch also came to the same conclusion.
Therefore, the Sarpanch cannot listen to the complaints of the parents about
missing teachers and take action accordingly. The PTAs, village education
committees, mid-day meal groups are isolated groups which do not have any
reporting structures nor do they have any authority over the schools. But
I noticed that the parents in the villages have not given up on the school,
they are looking for structures and opportunities to complain to. Only a
handful of private schools run in the district and parents report that they
will stop sending their children to private schools, once the government
schools start functioning. On more than one occasion, as soon as I entered
the school, the parents would come in and start telling me that their children
are not given the meal today or that the teacher is not regular and that
their children are not learning.
What is needed is a comprehensive structure that has the authority to address
their problems. The first solution could be to have all the local groups
like PTAs, the mid-day meal group, NGO’s under the panchayats, which
addresses education related problems in the village. The panchayats could
conduct gram sabhas once a month and discuss education issues. The second
solution is through the NGOs who will help to mobilize people. For instance,
in Jhabua two NGO’s Jan Shikshan Sansthan, Jhabua, has collaborated
with Shalum Mission with about 150 volunteers who will be given an ID card
and the ASER test. The card and the testing tool empower the volunteers
to go to their local village school and test the children’s Hindi reading
abilities. They also check on the teachers’ presence and if the mid-day
meal was being served. This “flying –squad” is empowering
the village locals to inquire about their schools and take ownership. It
gives them the courage that they can also enter the school’s premise
and ask questions.
Community ownership of schools cannot be done by building structures, but
by making the existing structures work or by social activist group who have
the right to know about their village schools. The government schools need
to be owned by the people themselves and they should stop waiting for higher
authorities to make their schools work.
Radhika Iyengar
Doctoral Student, Teachers College, Columbia University
Consultant, Jan Shikshan Sansthan, Jhabua (www.jssjhabua.net)
|
