Sanjay Kumar- village Nawthnava, Maharajgunj, UP Sanjay Kumar primarily reports on issues related to caste and education. Sanjay Kumar has been a committed social activist since he was a child. When he was young, he excelled in school and resisted the discrimination that he faced as a lower caste schoolboy. Unfortunately, caste issues affected him beyond the educational system when…

Sanjay Kumar

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The involvement of parents in children’s education is largely believed to result in better learning outcomes. Recognizing this, the makers of the Right to Education Act, have mandated parental involvement in schools through School Monitoring & Management Committees. These 12 member committees that include, parents, a teacher and the village head, have tasks like making school development plans and keeping a check on the functioning. How successful are SMCs in discharging these responsibilities? VV-PACS Community Correspondent Sanjay Jaiswal reports from Maharajganj district, Uttar Pradesh.

After conducting a survey in 5 schools he got to know about the lax attitude of SMCs in schools. “When we talk to the students they tell us, studies are not carried properly & the meals are not prepared, so our job is to monitor that”, says one parent and an SMC member. "Nobody comes to monitor whether students are getting food or not. They never check if there are proper toilets for kids or if they are clean” adds Vikas a student at one school. At the beginning of their tenures all SMC members are given a training as to what they need to monitor under the Right to Education Act. In this case the SMCs have not done their jobs properly.

Call to Action: To help you can call Sub-District Magistrate, Ratanpur Block, Maharajganj district, U.P on 0552223246 and ask him to get an efficient School Management Committee in the school.

About the Partnership: The Poorest Areas Civil Society (PACS) Programme and Video Volunteers have come together to create the Community Correspondents Network. The videos generated by the network will be able to highlight voices from the margins, providing skills to social communicators to provide advocacy tools to community based organisations.