The Right to Education Act (RTE) mandates the setting up of School Management Committees (SMC) by all private unaided schools for managing school affairs, including fixing fees, in six months’ time but so far no school has done anything about it.
RTE implementation would complete the stipulated six-month period on September 1 but many schools are not even aware of the concept under which 75 per cent of the members of the SMC should be parents, 50 per cent of them women.
When Express spoke to an official in the Department of School Education, he said that schools would not be able to get away without an SMC. But school heads were not very keen on the idea, ready with the excuse that the RTE Act has not yet been notified in the State.
When parents of a private aided school in Gopalapuram mooted the idea of beginning work on the SMC a few weeks ago, the school administration showed no interest. N Philipose, a parent, said that it was not because the notification was yet to come but because school heads feared that an SMC could spell trouble.
Says a Principal from a private school in Vadapalani on condition of anonymity, “After the recent hue and cry on the fee structure, there are valid reasons for school managements not wanting any intrusion from parents. The idea of the SMC would be a recipe for licensed intrusion.”