School management committees in capital to finally get some teeth

Draft bill in NA aims to grant communities greater access to schools

ISLAMABAD: The government has planned to grant school management committees (SMCs) some real teeth as they oversee schools in the capital.

Lawmakers in the National Assembly have submitted a private member bill seeking additional powers for these SMCs, formerly known as parent-teacher associations, to afford them a greater say in the functioning of schools.

The proposed legislation also suggests that the committees ensure that admissions in each class and shift are granted on merit.

The draft bill, Right to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Act 2017, was submitted by MNAs Dr Fouzia Hameed, Mehboob Alam, Iqbal Muhammad Ali Khan, Sajid Ahmed, and Shaikh Salahuddin.

The bill was drafted with the aim of providing the community access to school affairs. However, elections of SMCs are not held in time, nor are the committees empowered to check whether admissions have been granted on merit.

“The SMCs may exist in some institutions, but only on paper,” said Dr Hameed, adding that these committees are not functioning properly.

She added that the purpose of the legislation was to empower the committees so that they can not only oversee the functions of the school but also take some remedial measures.

“It is of no use if they only highlight issues and have no powers to provide solutions or take actions,” the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) lawmaker added.



With the new powers which have been proposed under the bill, the committees would be bound to hold regular elections and would have some powers where they can fine teachers over various issues, Dr Hameed said, adding that the bill could be improved further with clauses added after discussions in the standing committees.

In Islamabad, while SMCs are functional, their efficacy rests on the head or principal of an individual school and how active the committee is, an education official said.

In some schools, the official added, the SMCs may have been actively working but in others, they don’t.

Moreover, the committees in the federal capital do not get any funds, unlike committees in the provinces. However, they can accept donations from philanthropists to spend on the welfare of schools.

According to the Parental Engagement and Accountability in Public Education System report from the education monitor Alif Ailaan, despite the formation of SMCs in late 1990’s, a large number of committees in all the provinces, particularly Balochistan, remain dysfunctional.

Moreover, initiatives to garner support and participation from parents through the committees have also been unsuccessful due to a number of reasons, it says.

Further, the composition of SMCs varies across all provinces and the practices on the ground regarding the formation of SMCs vary widely from the guidelines set out in the provincial policies, according to report.

In the Punjab, instead of a general body electing members, parents are nominated by head teachers, based on their personal rapport with the members.

In other provinces, SMCs are granted a budget but the provisions for the allocation of funds vary across provinces. In Sindh, the fund is fixed with a primary school receiving between Rs22,000-Rs25,000 annually, a middle school receiving Rs40,000 - Rs50,000 while a high school receives Rs100,000 - Rs110,000.

In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the money is tied to classroom - Rs7,000 per classroom. In Punjab, it is based on school enrollment.

In Balochistan, there is no annual allocation of funds for the committees though some committees in primary schools are reported to have received a nominal sum of Rs4,000 annually.

However, the work of the committees’ mostly remains focused on physical infrastructure while overlooking learning outcomes.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2017.