The School Management Committee (SMC), constituted under the Right to Education Act 2009 plays an important role in ensuring accountability in India’s education system, especially in Government schools. The Act envisions the SMC as a decentralized governance model which empowers them to keep track and monitor functioning of the schools and oversee that the school grants are used effectively.
The SMCs consist of representatives of the local authority, parents or guardians of students, and the principal and teachers of the school. Three-fourths of SMC members must be parents or guardians and half must be women.
SMCs play a pivotal role in developing the tri-annual School Development Plans and annual work plans for the schools in every district and subsequently for every state of India. The RTE Act also highlights the critical role of parents as part of SMCs for developing a sense of ownership towards good education of their child and for strengthening and improving performance of schools in India.
Overall, SMCs focus on holistic development of the schools, which not only accounts to ensure good school infrastructure, but also supervision/monitoring of finance, management, academic progress of children, with equal participation and say, bringing transparency in India’s education system.