MUMBAI, December 4: Civic primary schools in Mumbai have been assigned a new monitor each; only, this one will act as a friendly neighbourhood advisor rather than an unyielding school marm.The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which runs 1,254 primary schools, has issued a circular recommending that advisory committees be set up to ensure that every child gets an education – and that they get quality education. This, the civic authorities feel, can be achieved only by inviting the participation of local residents and community-based organisations who are familiar with the ground realities in their localities. In a circular dated August 28, 1998, the civic Education Department has asked all its head teachers, language schools, beat officers and administrative officers (schools), to set up a Primary Education Advisory Committee comprising a head teacher as convenor, deputy head teacher as member-secretary, beat officer and community development officer as members, a representative of thenon-governmental organisation, Pratham, representatives of service-oriented organisations, parents, citizens, representatives of organisations which can adopt the school and others with special qualities.It also says the committees should be established on the recommendation of the Administrative Officer (Schools) and with the approval of the superintendent (schools), BMC. They will plan the work for the academic year, review the work every month, monitor academic progress and attendance, determine funds to be secured for the school, its physical needs, forward proposals from organisations providing assistance, plan and arrange additional classes/study classes/special classes and other additional work. Till date, 225 schools have already set up committees while many others are in the process of being formed. Additional Municipal Commissioner (Education), Ratnakar Gaikwad, told Express Newsline, ``Our purpose is to involve the community in education to check the dropout rate and improve the quality ofeducation. Look how well the mohalla committees have been working in tandem with the police. So why not introduce something like that in education?''Inadequate infrastructure, de-motivated teachers and indifferent parents have compromised the quality of education imparted in civic schools. Besides, with the bulk of the middle-class opting to send their children to convent and private schools, civic primary schools do not get due `social' attention.There is also a yawning communication gap between teachers, students and parents - especially since parents of these children hail from slum areas - which affects both enrolment and augments the dropout rate.However, the committees now hope to remedy all that. ``Though it has been three months since the circular was issued, the people's participation has only just picked up owing to the intervening Diwali vacation,'' explains C V Madhukar of Pratham, which has been assisting the BMC with several of its education programmes.The efforts of anothervoluntary organisation, Child Relief and You (CRY), have also helped a lot. ``We have since received 500 letters from people of various strata and more are pouring in,'' Madhukar says.Says Sandesh Sarfare (22), a Ghatkopar resident who on the advisory committee of the Sainath Nagar Municipality School No 3: ``We have visited the homes of students, who show little interest in attending class and found that the parents were usually at work and showed little interest in their wards' education. Consequently, the children roam the streets and fall into bad company.''
