Delhi Government’s ‘SMC Sabha’ bridges gap between parents and government

• Delhi Government’s ‘SMC Sabha’ bridges gap between parents and government
• Delhi’s first ever ‘SMC Sabha’ was organised for SMCs of Burari’s schools

The Delhi Government organised the first ever ‘SMC Sabha’ for School Management Committees (SMCs) of Government schools located in the Burari Assembly Constituency. Strengthening and empowering Delhi’s SMCs has been a top priority of the Government for more than a year. The SMC Sabha was one more step towards making the Government accountable to parents of children studying in Government schools. SMC members from 15 schools of Burari had assembled in the Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya (RPVV) – Civil Lines, to share their grievances with government officials. The concept of the SMC Sabha was to provide a platform to parent SMC members to voice their issues with the schools to the concerned officials, in order to ensure effective and speedy resolution.

Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Shri Manish Sisodia graced the event with his presence and encouraged parents to speak up about the problems they were facing. He said, “The Government is very keen on involving parents and the community in school administration. SMCs are playing a very constructive role in improving the condition of government schools today. This is an extraordinary event, since it is the first time that Government and parents are meeting together, discussing and resolving problems as one team.”

The Hon. Minister sought tighter deadlines for completion of work and pulled up officials who were found to be lax. He will personally follow-up all commitments made by officials to ensure works get completed on time. When a parent complained of poor grain quality in Mid Day Meals, Mr Sisiodia immediately inquired with the contractor, and gave him a one-week deadline to improve food quality, failing which the contractor would be penalised and replaced. On another occasion, when a group of parents from the Mukundpur School in Burari complained of a delay in construction of classrooms, the Hon. Minister asked both PWD & Education department officials about it. When he found that the necessary files were stuck between the two departments, he asked both of them to convene a meeting on Monday and finish the paperwork by the end of the day.

Apart from the Hon. Minister, the Advisor to Dy CM, Ms Atishi Marlena, Burari MLA Sanjeev Jha, Advisor to Director, Education, Shailendra Sharma, District Magistrate (North East District), Deputy Directors (Education), and officials of PWD, Delhi Jal Board, MCD and Delhi Police were also present to answer queries and resolve department-related problems faced by parent SMC members. The Hon. Minister’s Advisor Atishi Marlena said, “SMCs have changed the way Delhi Govt schools function for the better and this effort of the Government was to make the Government directly answerable to parents of children who study in our schools. The turnout at the Sabha is very heartening and SMC members will return home today with even more confidence to perform their responsibilities in their schools.”

This initiative of the Government is the first of many such ‘SMC Sabhas’ to be organised in every Assembly Constituency of Delhi. The Delhi Government has always made education its prime area of focus, and has launched several interventions to transform government schools.