Decentralised Education
Give Role To Stakeholders

By Mukti Rijal

OFFICIALS admit that the education sector is almost in a mess. Education is under stress both in quality and quantity terms. Education imparted at both private and public institutions has no practical and job value. It has rather removed the students from realities of social life. Education in a sense has crippled the recipients. The public education sector is critically ill.

Attention

Despite the fact that education imparted in private institutions is also theoretical and puts less emphasis on practical dimension, they have attracted more social attention. The sole reason why private schools have stole the march is attributed to their exclusive concentration in producing better results. The secondary level education is so far a kind of terminating point of the school education, good results at the level is valued highly for further opportunities.

Any schools showing good performance especially at the SLC level, no matter the means, are rated to be excellent and students tend to flock to these institutions. Private schools have done it and left the government sector far behind creating a great divide in the education sector.

Why government sectors in education has lost credibility and trust needs to be examined seriously. Education is the basic need of the people and also the most important function of the state. Education should receive first priority in public expenditure. Moreover, school level education is the primary responsibility of the state. It is incumbent upon the state to invest as much resources as possible it can to ensure that education is accessible to all and it is qualitative by all standards.

The responsibility for school level education should be reserved for state and no private bodies or entrepreneur should be allowed to enter the domain of school level education. This is not to enhance the centralisation of education and strengthen state control in social development function. There are two reasons for it. Education is the fundamental right of the citizen and the state should guarantee it. There should not be distinction in the quality of education provided at the elementary level. This creates the possibilities of social discrimination and accentuates the gap. It should therefore be the sole task of the state to provide school education for its citizens and private sector participation can be promoted for higher education.

Only putting in more resources and augmenting inputs cannot cure the malaises ailing school education. This is also the question of proper democratic administration and supervision.

The users and beneficiaries of education are pupils and real stakeholders are their parents. More leeway should be given to parents for participation in the management and administration of the school institutions. It is the Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) that run schools in the welfare democracies of the west. they are very successful as parents and teachers both have stakes in the proper administration and management of the schools. It is heartening to note that the government is introducing this approach in our context as well.

A news item published in the local daily has it that the government is set to introduce an amendment in the existing Education Act to democratise the administration and management of the school institutions. According to the proposed new stipulation the school management committees shall be composed of a majority of parents especially those whose children are enrolled as students. According to the proposed provision, the committee should closely supervise the schools and submit report to the district education office.

It is also learnt that the government is contemplating not to give priority to the quantitative expansion of schools but to strengthen the existing ones through provision of physical and academic infrastructures. These proposed measures are laudable ones and it is hoped that the government will not shirk of its responsibilities to correct maladies affecting the education sector.

Social control over schools also creates an environment for local ownership and resources can be generated to buttressing community responsibilities. Now even the rural communities have resources--human resources, social capital-to consolidate quality of education. The only important and necessary precondition is establishing proper democratic mechanism and ambience for the purpose.

Anticipation

It is anticipated that the government takes right move to bail education out of the clutch of politics and devolves upon local communities more decisive say and authority to manage and administer schools. It is also part of the democratisation of schools and education system.

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