Understanding the Role of School Councils
Situation Analysis of School Councils in Five Districts of Punjab
By 'Khoj' In partnership with 'ActionAid'

Introduction:

The process of including the voice of the community and to ensuring their active involvement in the governance of the schools culminated in the 1994 notification issued by the government of Punjab to launch the school management committees. Social Action Program offered policy and implementation frameworks for community participation and local governance which heralded the devolution of powers and creation of district governments. The UN Inter-Agency mission statement articulated the need for reforms in basic education and suggested the following:

"Moving the organization and management structure of basic education from one of a highly centralized and government managed operation to one that supports a true partnership of the government, communities, non-governmental organizations and private sector and brings more of the decision making to the schools/villages and the districts." (UN Inter-Agency Mission, 1995, p. 2)

In 2001, major structural changes took place through political, administrative and financial decentralization. Three tiers of governance were formed i.e. at district, tehsil and union council levels. Education service delivery became the responsibility of the district government.

School management committees continued under the new system. At the conceptual level, SMCs were empowered with allocation of funds from the district government and guidelines have been set for the utilization of the funds for the improvement of the quality of education and the building of infrastructure of schools. In 2007, new policy was issued and SMCs were formed under the new name of School Council. The old structures were formed in accordance with the new guidelines.

As regards the performance of the school councils there are mixed views. The authority of the SMCs to help manage teachers [e.g., to monitor their attendance] is in some legal question. Many other questions have been raised. Has the new structure improved parents/community voice? Could accountability by the beneficiaries be put in place? Has the process contributed in empowering the politically marginalized sections of the community? Could indicators of quality education be achieved? Has the relationship between the education bureaucracy and the beneficiaries improved?

There needs to be an organized effort to evaluate if the purpose and objectives of establishing School Councils have been achieved. The theory of SCs also needs some basic analysis that is carried out on the basis of practices on the ground. At the practice level careful assessment of the challenges to implement the idea on the ground has to be done. This revisit is absolutely necessary to make the institution of school councils more realistic and empowering.

Methodology:

ActionAid is an international anti poverty development organization. In Pakistan, they work with the most marginalized communities. Those districts are selected who have the worst social development indicators. From the districts those tehsils, union councils and villages are selected which fall in the category of the most underdeveloped area. According to the second criterion those pockets in the better developed could also be chosen for interventions which are neglected. The selected union councils are called Development Areas (DAs) where ActionAid works in collaboration with the local NGOs.

Following the ActionAid criteria and also to have a fair representation of the whole province the following five districts were selected from the north, south and center of the Punjab :

Jehlum, Lahore, Bhakkar, Rahim Yar Khan, Muzzafar Garh

One rural and one urban union council were selected from the five districts. The detailed account is as follows:

>Kandwal (rural) and Khe’ora, Pind Dadan Khan
>Bait Pattal (rural) and Union Council No 3 Parhaar Sharqi (urban), Kot Addu
>UC 52 (Rural) and UC 133 (Urban), Lahore
>Panjgrain (rural), Darya Khan Urban 2 (urban), Darya Khan
>UC Wah Kohna (rural), UC 30-A (urban) Rahim Yar Khan

In order to have equal gender representation two primary schools were selected from each union council; one girls’ and one boys’ school.

As the interaction of four stakeholders was envisaged in the 2007 Policy to shape up the policy decisions, planning and functioning of the school councils a representation of the children’s parents, school administration, community and education bureaucracy were included in the situation analysis. Additionally, in order to have a complete picture girl and boy children were also interviewed. As the NGOs are also involved with school councils in different areas Mr. Fawad Usman Khan of Sudhaar was also interviewed. Sudhaar has a vast experience in formation and training of school management committees (SMCs) and school councils (SCs).

The sample taken from each school consisted of the following:

Parents: One respondent who was office bearer of the school council and one parent who was not member of the school council.
Teacher: who was representative in the school council.
Children: One child of a parent member and one child of a non-member.
General Member: representative of the community who was not a parent member.

As Assistant Education Officers (AEOs) are the closest link between the schools and the Education Department two AEOs from each tehsil i.e., one AEO Female and one AEO Male were included in the research.

A sample of 132 respondents from the five districts of Punjab was taken.

In order to have not only quantitative data but also to have insights into the qualitative issues of perceptions, attitudes and behaviors a semi structured interview based survey was conducted; four questionnaires were developed to interview the school council members i.e., teachers and parents, parents and community, children and NGOs. The data collectors were orientated and trained before sending them to the field. The questionnaires were field tested and then finalized.

In order to have a comprehensive picture the following data was also collected:

• Profile of the school as seen by the interviewer (overall condition of the school building and class rooms, furniture, teaching aids, drinking water, electricity connection, fans, bulbs, latrines, playing facilities, plantation, attitude of the teachers, overall discipline in the school, personal hygiene of children etc.)
• Profile of the UC included in the sample
• Photographs of schools interviewed
• Information from school council records on the format of the proformas given in the 2007 Policy document.

The data was collected by the ActionAid Education Officers from their respective Development Areas in the five districts selected for the research. Clarifications were also sought later from the data collectors and some of the respondents. The data was collected in the months of April, May and June 2009.

The soft ware MS Excel was used to tabulate and analyze the quantifiable data. The qualitative data was processed manually through coding.

The literature on the history, objectives and performance of SMCs and SCs was thoroughly reviewed the availability of which was not very easy. It was not possible to get the most basic information from the concerned Education Offices.

Continued... - Read More in the Original Report attached below as PDF.