State govt merges committees in aided schools
Until recently, 17 different committees were active in private-aided schools, often leading to various kinds of work and unnecessary strain on teachers
The state school education department on Friday decided to restructure the functioning of private aided schools by merging the existing committees into five key bodies.
The decision comes after long-standing demands from teachers’ organisations, who argued that frequent committee meetings and administrative responsibilities were consuming valuable teaching time.
Until recently, 17 different committees were active in private-aided schools, often leading to various kinds of work and unnecessary strain on teachers. As per the new government resolution, these committees will now be consolidated into five.
A similar reform had already been implemented in government and local self-government schools in April this year, where 15 committees were merged into four.
Teacher organisations have welcomed the decision, pointing out that it will free up more time for academic work and improve the focus on students.
“This reform is a big relief. By cutting down the number of committees, the government has ensured that teachers can dedicate more time to students rather than paperwork,” said Suresh Pabe, member of teachers’ association.
The school management committee will play a central role in overseeing school affairs. It will include between 12 and 16 members, with 75 % of them drawn from among parents. The remaining members will comprise elected representatives from local bodies, teachers, education or child development experts, and the school principal.
The department has also made it mandatory that half of the members of each committee must be women, in order to ensure gender balance in school governance.
Parent members will be selected through parent meetings, while other representatives will be nominated according to the prescribed process. The committees will meet once every month, and their membership will be renewed every two years.
Along with the school management committee, four other bodies, the Sakhi Savitri committee, the women’s grievance redressal committee, the student safety and infrastructure development committee, and the school committee, will now handle the range of responsibilities previously divided among many separate groups.
