As a part of the reconstitution of School Management Committees (SMCs) initiated by the School Education Department for the Nam Palli Nam Perumai scheme, parents in government middle schools across the State came together to democratically choose the members of the committees on Saturday. 

In 6,849 government middle schools, observers were present to oversee the process of choosing the members and 5.74 lakh parents participated in this exercise. Through the reconstitution of these committees, the School Education Department aims at encouraging better community engagement and involvement in the functioning of schools. 

Each committee should have 20 members, 15 of them parent. And 50% of the committee should be women. The panel should also include a teacher representative, head of the school, as well as an NGO representative or academician from the community is expected to be a part of the committee. 

“We had good response from parents in our school and around 70 parents came to the school to choose the SMC members on Saturday. Many of them were interested in being a part of the committee, and the parents collectively chose the 15 representatives,” said Swarna Bai, Headmistress, Panchayat Union Middle School, Minjur block. 

The SMCs are expected to come up with a school development plan, which will focus on areas such as student enrolment and retention, infrastructure, learning, and management.