Quit
often we fail to realise the essence of the development of a school and a
village, i.e. the relationship and the mutual support between the two. What seen as natural are either villagers
leave alone the school and children or put the all liability to school staffs.
There was a stiff protest from the school teachers when education minister
order to manage school including grants only through School Management
Committee (MSC) in Manipur. The basic reason why private school are success to
deliver quality education (as consumer considers-observational) is the
involvement of parent either as Voice or Exit, which is clear business model.
Government schools also provide space to involve parents to make voice, through
formation of SMC which in most of the time schools try best not to let
community know about it. Absence of this committee allows the school staff to bear
no liability. In its presence also the
community fail to harness its purposes- foster relationship between the village
community and school, leverage resources from the village development resources
or vice versa and quality education for their children. One real case study,
which I have already produced to my KCCI, Unicef colleagues at Most Significant
Change (MSC) story training session, is given below which compiled from the
primary information I have collected from Bihar, the detail is given in the
case study itself. The case study can be read keeping in mind the following
four questions as base of enquiry to the case study:
1.
What is the purpose of a school within a village?
2.
What are the roles of village community in school?
3.
Who should be involved to management a school efficiently?
4.
What are the social and structural impacts of
school in the village?

Ram
Gopal (name changed) is the president of School Management Committee (SMC) for
the school Middle School (MS) Khor in the block Madhepur in Madhubani district.
He is a passionate social worker dedicated for the development of school and
the village as whole. Before be become president of School Management Committee
(SMC) he was a member of Village Disaster Management Committee (VDMC). VDMC is
a group of villagers that include local electives and villagers formed under
the norm of the sub programme called Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction
(CBDRR) under the main programme Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) being
implemented by UNICEF. Similarly School Safety Programme (SSP) is a sub
programme being implemented in the schools.
When Ram
Gopal becomes the SMC president of the Middle School (MS) Khor the number of
teacher was very less and most of the teachers were from outside the village
including the Head Master. Gopal himself was a student of the same school and
has some emotional attachment with the school, perhaps which is why he is
determined bring a leap-jump change in the school.
In order
to bring the changes in the school he understood the importance of the
involvement of Head Master (HM) of the school. He motivated the HM to the
extent possible for his significance in the development of the school.
He
initiated talk about the issues of the school with the teachers and HM
specially. He convinced the HM that the school is very backward, the condition
of the school is very bad and the need for his cooperation. One day Gopal sat
with HM and from the view point of both SSP and CBDRR they started talking on
the problem tree of the school. They first picked up the serious issue of
enrolment. Sometimes children comes in the school is only three. They went to
the villages and catch the children from the village and enrolled them in the
school. And also the children who enrolled in the school but do not come in the
school are taken back to the school. This bring the children back to the school
was done through launching a campaign for enrolment by the students who are the
members of School Disaster Management Committee which is formed under SSP. This
committee includes all children from Bal Sansad (BS), Meena Manch (MM) and
representatives from all classes. Bal Sansad is children parliament while Meena
Manch is girl platform in the school. These BS and MM are the norms of
participatory model in Sarva Sikhsha Abhiyan (SSA).
When the
problems are identified and started addressing they putted Mid-Day-Meal (MDM)
in the priority list. There was no kitchen properly and hence it was like MDM
was not there properly. They made the kitchen outside the school and started
proper functioning of MDM. When MDM comes in the picture what followed is the
Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).
There are hand-pumps but not all were working. As the number of children
has increased even using bucket does not served the purpose with two
hand-pumps. Therefore involving SDMC, HM and Ram Gopal himself made plan for
new hand-pump and with support from block education office the hand-pump is
installed now.
There
was no hospitable building to accommodate all the children enrolled. There was
only two rooms and with risky roof. SDMC
and school authorities made a plan for new building with request to district
education officer. They got approval of the budget of Rs.45000 for the building
which is constructing now. Earlier the
school was constructed with lower floor which could be easily affected by flood
from the water of either Bagmati or Kosi river. So, they have increased the
height of the floor of the building destructing the earlier one. For just to
increase the floor of the school they needed to talk to BDO and Engineer who
were given approval by for the increase of height of the school floor.
There
was no Almirah in the office because of which files were laying here and there.
They increased the content of the library. They brought First Aid box also.
Through the help of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
(MGNREGS) they did soil filling in the campus to prevent from water logging.
The successful idea of land filling using the fund of MGNREGA is credited to
the simultaneous running of SSP and CBDR in the same village by integrating
both in School Development Plan (SDP), which is a norm of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan.
This
whole change was brought by the mobilization of school community and village
community from the angle of DRR by Samajik Chetna Kendra (SCK) by leveraging
the resources from School Development Plan. Ram Gopal is also part of SCK in
which he leads the things in addition to being president of SMC. It is the only
organisation which is working in close with children and villagers from time to
time as per need as a grass-root agency which is delivering the DRR. They keep
orienting the children of the school and villagers through campaigns for
awareness. From government side, they
get help from Block Officers, Cluster Officers, District Officers, Zilla
Parishad, District Disaster Management Authority and politicians. They have the
liaising upto state level.
Now the
whole people both within the village and outside the village acknowledged the
changes in the Khor village. People in other neighbouring villages including
press people aware of the programmes like SSP and CBDR both of which they
integrate with School Development Plan which is why the village of Ram Gopal is now
developed in terms of the tangible and intangible aspects of the relationship
between school and village. People from other villagers requested to the
workers of SCK to start these programmes. People from other villages also aware
of the children committees formed in the school and its role in the development
both in the school and village. This is because of which they want to run in
their villages also, so that development is brought like in Ram Gopal’s
intervention village. They requested to the workers of SCK to make campaigns in
their villages through children for the awareness such as for school enrolment,
child marriage, housing scheme and toilet construction schemes etc.
When
there is school ceremonies and children fare, peoples from around the villages
come to see the programmes. Children of the school do street-plays and
mock-drills, and children from other places also come to see these and join
sometimes. Children who are the friends of the children learning in MS Khor
tell to their teachers and thus teachers and community come and requested to
Ram Gopal to run this kind of programmes in their villages also. Thus, this
village has become a model and example of development in the area and also thus
this village has built relationship with other villages. There has in fact
developed a lot, Gopal said.
Everything
is just started in the last two years. The school is hundred years all. What
was not in the school for the last hundred years is now in the school in the
last two years. He challenged that the development brought in the school is
nowhere in the block except this school. This school has become a topic of
discussion in the region that why and how this school has developed so fast.
The school got even proposal for Model School but Head Master declined and
returned to District Officers due to lack of teachers.
Whatever
the programmes comes at Panchayat level are all discussed in the public
meeting. Panchayt Mukhya, Purn Mukhya, Amina Khatun (name changed), Rema Devi
(name changed), all are in full contribution, they kept the school programme in
top priority and completes quickly. From Panchayat they get help like campus
filling through MGNREGA as mentioned above, the road from the village to the
school was not commutable which is under now constructed. It is the road
through which children come to school. Ram Gopal felt that the involvement of
Panchayat is very important. And without SMC president all these developments
are next to impossible.