Sensitising school committees through edutainment
Now, school management committees (SMC) will get to understand their role through an edutainment programme. ‘Jan Pahal’, a 52-episode radio series, was launched on Tuesday, to sensitise committee members about their duties. It will reach out to 2.5 million SMCs across 75 districts of UP.
Vedpati Mishra, state project director for ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’ (SSA) - a government of India initiative - and Ruth Leano, chief of UNICEF office Uttar Pradesh, launched the programme at the Scientific Convention Centre here. Around 400 SMC members and village heads, who will help take the initiative forward, were present.
Speaking on the programme’s importance in bridging “critical gap”, Mishra said, “It is committed to strengthening SMCs. The series will share information on the roles and responsibilities of committee members and the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in an entertaining manner.”
Leano said that strengthening communities was an effective strategy to turn around the learning environment at schools. “Uttar Pradesh has taken several progressive steps towards ensuring engagement of parents and PRIs with schools. ‘Jan Pahal’ can be another model intervention for other states to follow,” said Leano.
Prithviraj Chauhan, director AIR, stressed on the need to establish the last-mile connect, so that all parents were empowered to monitor and improve the school environment. “AIR is always ready to support such an initiative,” he said.
‘Jan Pahal’ is a joint initiative of the UNICEF and SSA. It will be broadcast every Monday and Wednesday from 11.30 am to 11.45 am on all 12 primary channels of the All India Radio (AIR) in UP, one station at Chhattisgarh and one at Madhya Pradesh.
The primary responsibility of SMCs is to improve the school environment, ensuring that all children get access to schooling as well as care and support.
They also need to make sure that kids are safe, and protected from all forms of violence and harassment at schools, in their families and in society. SMCs are also supposed to improve enrolment and attendance, and work on the school development plan (SDP).