Delhi govt issues guidelines for parent outreach programme

NEW DELHI : The Delhi government has issued guidelines for parents outreach program of School Management Committees, urging school heads to ensure that parents have a mechanism to reach out with their concerns and issues.

In an order issued on February 3, the Delhi Directorate of Education said the School Management Committees (SMCs) were created as a means of increasing parents' participation in the governance of schools and to act as a bridge between parents and the school.

However, citing a report by Boston Consulting Group on Delhi Education Reforms, the Directorate said that despite the active involvement of the SMCs in schools, 63 per cent of parents do not know about SMCs.

As per the guidelines, each SMC member will be responsible to maintain relationships with up to 50 students and their families in their locality and also consider engaging other parents, ‘School Mitras’, to volunteer in the program.

Each school mitra will have the similar responsibility of staying in touch with the families of 50 students through telephone calls or home visits.

“The SMC members and the School mitra need to engage with the parents regarding whatever activities/academics are going on in the school and also to hear from the parents in case of any issues they are facing with regard to their child's education,” the circular read.

The Directorate also laid out process to implement the program instructing the heads of schools to create a list of localities that form the catchment area of the school, list of students in these localities, and identify school mitras in case of larger localities or where there are no SMCs.

“It would be the responsibility of the Teacher Convener to stay in touch with the SMC members and School mitras on an ongoing basis and to take feedback from them that is coming from parents,” it read.

The Directorate also said that the school mitra should be invited to the SMC meeting once a month. In addition to this, a helpline would be set up and run by the Directorate with support from DCPCR where parents can reach out with any queries on an ongoing basis.

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