Parents join discussions on reconstitution of school management committees in T.N.
The Hindu
The committees, in govt. schools, aim at fostering better community engagement
As a first step towards the reconstitution of School Management Committees (SMCs) for the Nam Palli Nam Perumai initiative, government schools across Tamil Nadu welcomed parents on campus for an initial round of discussion on Sunday.
The Nam Palli Nam Perumai initiative aims at fostering better community engagement and involvement in the functioning and development of government schools. Parents are being encouraged to join the SMCs, which the school education department has proposed to reconstitute.
At the Presidency Government Girls Higher Secondary School in Egmore, around 300 parents participated and interacted with teachers in school. “A lot of parents today expressed interest to be a part of the SMC. We spoke to them about the constitution of the committee, the responsibilities and how they could be more involved in the development of the school in general,” said headmistress M.M. Ramalakshmi.
Divya Rajashekar, a parent whose daughter studies in Class I in the school, said they were happy to engage with the school and hoped for more regular meetings going forward. “Being a part of the SMC will provide us a good platform to represent our thoughts about improvements that could be done in the school. Having an active SMC will greatly benefit students,” she said.
Over 250 parents came to the Government Girls Higher Secondary School campus in Ambattur and participated in the discussion about the functioning of SMCs. “Many parents have shown interest in being a part of the committee. We will keep them informed about when the committee will be constituted and convene again,” said headmistress Vanitha Rani, headmistress.
The SMCs should have 20 members, of which 15 are parents. Half of the committee members should be women and a parent of a child with special needs should be the vice-chairperson.
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