For the past one year, Samarthan has been working to strengthen the members of School Management Committee in five Panchayats of Datiya district. In the process, nearly 35 members including four teachers received the training on “The Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009” on 22nd October which made them aware about their roles and responsibilities as enshrined under the Act. The training also helped the members develop a School Development Plan for their respective Schools.
While expressing their concerns, members shared that the lack of adequate teachers in the school was crippling the quality of education in their villages. Taking a cue from the training, the SMC members of Pathari Gram Panchayat decided to fill up this gap by appointing guest teachers in the school and passed a resolution to appoint three competent youth (Bali Kiran Ahirwar, Guari Shankar, Lokendra Singh Ahirwar) from their village. There are 208 students enrolled in the primary school, and the appointment of these three teachers was pending for a long time.
The SMC was unaware of its role to initiate the process at its own level. Taking advantage of the unawareness of the SMC members, three youth from adjoining village approached the District Education Officer Mr. KG Shukla and secured the appointment letter for them. On 8th November, the SMC members having learnt the violation of the due process wrote back to the DEO, quashing the appointments and reinstating the three youth proposed by the committee. The DEO took immediate steps to correct the wrong and put in his sign of approval. Thus by awareness and exercise of power given to the members of SMC, not only did the school get three additional teachers but also the wrongs done at higher level were corrected.
