Everybody Has To Play Together To Make Good Music!
In village Pallia, block Barachawar, district Ghazipur, the atmosphere is almost like a big, happy picnic: everyone is sitting in the middle of the lone village road, surrounded by fields on one side and small huts on the other, as children scamper in and out of the discussion.
Surendra Ram, 30, works with the local marriage band and plays the banjo and his wife, Rita, is an agricultural labourer who is busy working in the field until Surendra calls her to join the discussion on the school SMC.
Ambika Kumar, Block Coordinator, says because SMC has a very crucial role in actualizing the goals of RTE, PACS focused on overcoming the cynicism in the community – including teachers and parents – through positive action and a constructive dialogue to work towards a well functioning school system.
“The quality of the SMC directly depends on the level and quality of the members. Therefore, it was necessary that ground work be undertaken, with utmost seriousness, towards sensitizing the larger community of parents and community members with respect to the provisions of RTE, the roles and responsibilities of the SMC, and also their accountability. Village youth and women (in particular SHGs) were especially organized and trained to play an effective role in ensuring proper functioning of the SMC,” he says
In this village, as in a lot of others, the general observation was mothers were generally found to be more concerned and better informed about their children’s education. Thus, adequate and appropriate provision for effective training and orientation of SMC members and their sensitization was made for. Parents, especially mothers, were mobilized to allow for the democratic and effective functioning of the SMC. To begin with, the PACS partner tried to determine factors that could aide or impede participation and to find ways to enhance the amount and quality of participation.
Says Ambika Kumar “People like Surendra are functionally illiterate, so we had to break down the roles and responsibilities of SMC members into smaller, more understandable packets of information they could understand and internalize. It was hard work, because the concept of SMC itself is relatively new and parents and other stakeholders are even just beginning to understand its implication and their place in the overall system.”
Surendra could not agree more. He says that while he was very excited to be elected to the SMC as its President, the hard part was yet to come! But, he says, during orientation, the PACS partner told him to focus on local levels solutions and not get carried away by “changing the system” in one stroke. He adds that because parents and children are the primary stakeholders of the local school and it is they who bear the brunt of faults in the school system, they need to be given the opportunity and the support to be heard if a change is to be made in the current education system. “My role is to make them realize that they hold the key to reversing the decline in schools through their collective participation in SMC meetings and constructive engagements with the school and other stakeholders. Everytime I met a parent, I told him “The days of complaining are over; if you want change, come and help everyone work for that change.”
Says Surendra “In November 2014, the Head Master, Ramashankar Yadav, never consulted anyone in the formation of the SMC. So our first task was to get the SMC list and find out who were the members, so they could be informed. This way, we could ensure full participation of SMC members. Once the list was in my hand, I told everyone what position they held in the SMC. It was interesting to see their reaction: many were just as incredulous and surprised as me when they learnt their names were on the SMC list!”
He also observed poor participation in the SMC. Teachers blamed parents for not attending meetings and parents blamed teachers for lack of information about meeting times. Other reasons for poor performance of the SMC were low member participation, corruption, cultural barriers such as the caste system, etc. Thus, in every meeting, Surendra and other SMC members – supported by PACS – ensured that the process of motivation and capacity building on the roles and responsibilities of the SMC is carried forward.
As understanding of their responsibilities increased, so did their ability – and inclination – to identify and resolve issues. One such opportunity was the issue of discrimination against Muslim and Chamar (derogatory word for the lower castes) children in the school.
Says Surendra “We were aware teachers often referred to our children in a derogatory manner behind their backs. Often, they would call them chamaini (children of chamars) derogatorily, or whisper “who will teach these children?” or “Make them sit separately because they are dirty”, etc. They used to call our children “dirty” and ask “why do you send them with rota (mucus from nose)”. When it came to Mid Day Meals, the teachers would taunt the children by saying “Do you not get good food at home?”
Even Muslim and Chamar children were made to sit separately. The teachers said there were no plates in school for children to have their Mid Day Meal in, so the children had to carry their own plate and spoon to eat in. After the meal, the children had to wash their own plates. The teacher would not hesitate to hit them in case of even minor transgressions, especially during inspections, when the children were threatened with a beating in case they said anything against her.”
These issues were brought up and discussed in SMC meetings, and though Surendra says “When SMC members intervene, these incidents lessen but they again start after some time. We also realised the school actually had 60 plates for 60 children!”
One day, the Head Master wanted Surendra to sign a cheque, but he was wary since he knew that the money could be misused by him. But because he was not very literate, he could not put of signing the cheque much longer, especially since it pertained to buying uniforms for the children. But after he had signed the cheque, he realized the teacher had not bought the uniforms. When he asked him where the uniforms were, the Head Master retorted “Are you are a leader or what? I’ll kick you out of the SMC.”
Says Nirmala, Theme Coordinator “Surendra used to sign the cheques but had no understanding of its consequences. But after we discussed the issue with him and told him of the pros and cons of signing cheques without asking the right questions, he says he is now careful. There are also fake admissions in the school, so that teachers can take money allocated for these fictitious admissions (like dress, uniforms, etc) for their own use. Surendra understood quickly that while SMCs are supposed to encourage communities to participate and “assume ownership” of the school to insure accountability, unless their capacity was built – and built quickly – they would not be able to perform their mandated roles, let alone check those engaging in corrupt practices.”
Surendra says he realizes that he cannot sign any official paper without knowing why, since he can be questioned later about it, especially when it comes to the expenses. Says Ambika “As an NGO, we can only support parents like Surendra but the Government has now given the responsibility to the public to run the school. Now they have to learn to run the SMC properly.”
Rita says the Head Master is supposed to taste the food made in the school kitchen for the Mid Day Meal, but since he is a Yadav, he doesn’t taste food made by the Chamar caste. She says that there is a RTI application pending about the boundary wall and roof of the school; the roof has not been plastered since 2011, and leaks continuously when it rains. “My children fall ill and I have to worry about them all the time. Do you think the Head Master sends his children here? But there is not enough information made available to parents by the teachers and Head Master because of discrimination against SMC members. If information is shared, it is shared in a very limited manner which makes action difficult for members and parents.”
Says Surendra “The teachers, unfortunately, have no personal stake in the school system since they don’t send their children to these schools; the parents of children on the other hand find it difficult to raise their concerns because of their own illiteracy, ignorance, caste-based discrimination and a system that will do anything to protect its own vested interests. Thus, there is no pressure on the system to perform. We are now working to change this culture. Our focus now is to emphasize to both Surendra and the Head Master that it is learning that needs to be their responsibility, not just teaching. When this starts happening, real change will take root here.”