An Open letter to Union Education Minister: End of School Autonomy - A J. Philip

[AC Michael]

A letter to Union Education Minister End of school autonomy A.J. Philip Dear Shri Dharmendra Pradhan Ji, I first heard your name when my friend, an IAS officer now retired, served under you in the Petroleum Ministry. Recently, I had occasion to write an editorial on the reforms that you introduced in the University Grants Commission (UGC), which evoked violent protests, especially from upper castes in Uttar Pradesh. I do not know who said it, but I know what he or she said: the best way to destroy a society or a nation is to destroy its education system. Let incompetence and corruption thrive in education, and society will begin collapsing. There is also a saying that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. On May 6, you unveiled your guidelines on School Management Committee (SMC) formation across all schools from Classes 1 to 12 in the country. I have heard the saying “one shoe fits all.” Only Lord Hanuman can have different sizes to fit any shoe given to him. “Protean” is the English word for this phenomenon. Unfortunately, Homo sapiens can never be protean. Now let me come to the subject. Before that, a word about my own credentials to write this letter. Just as you were a teacher, I too was once a teacher who taught journalism at several institutions. I have also delivered lectures at several universities — from Patna to Punjab, Himachal to Aligarh, Hamdard to Jamia, and Delhi to Indraprastha universities. I also functioned as chairman of two NGO-run higher secondary schools in Delhi and Haryana. I had been associated with school managements even before the Right to Education Act came into being. Your guidelines supersede all the norms in force till now. Of course, they are challengeable in a court of law. But I am neither a lawyer nor a politician. I practise in the court of public consciousness, which, I think, is more important than any court of law manned by persons like D.Y. Chandrachud, who quote Aristotle and Aurangzeb but are guided solely by their personal deity. Let me tell you a little history. While the Constitution was being drafted, representatives of the Christian community asked for no special privileges or rights — not even reservation. All that they asked for was the right to run their educational institutions in accordance with their religious principles of equality, fraternity, and liberty, which you may think are of French Revolution origin. However, my wife identifies compassion, humility, and honesty as the three great Christian principles. That is how Article 30 found a place in the Constitution. It guarantees religious and linguistic minorities the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice. The National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions was set up in furtherance of this provision. It is a different matter that it is now as dead as the dodo, a bird once found in large numbers in Mauritius. Now let me come to the new School Management Committees that you want every school in India to set up within a month of the new academic year. You have fixed the size of the committees. A school with only 100 students should have 12–15 members on the committee. Schools with more than 500 students should have 20–25 members. What about schools with over 1,500 students? You are silent on this. Of course, the SMC guidelines are applicable to all schools, as they do not make an exception for any type of school, be it run by a corporate body, a religious organisation, or an NGO. I tried to find out through the Internet which school you attended. You mention only Utkal University and your degree in anthropology. I believe you studied in a Christian school like L.K. Advani, Piyush Goyal, Smriti Irani, and the late Arun Jaitley. If I am wrong, I apologise for that assumption. I know a BJP leader who hides the fact that he was trained to be a Catholic priest. More than two decades ago, Madhya Pradesh introduced a law under which schools run by religious and linguistic minorities would lose their minority status if they did not have 50 per cent students belonging to the minority community. A friend and manager of a Mar Thoma Church-run school in Satna, which has a reputation for holistic, quality education, went to the Jabalpur High Court, which struck down the law. I am sure you know why my friend challenged the law. After the government, Christians run the largest number of schools. In at least 99 per cent of such schools in North India, Christians would not constitute even 50 per cent of the students. I do not think there is any school in Delhi where Christian students are in a majority. I mention this because, under your guidelines, 75 per cent of the members should be elected representatives of parents or guardians. You also want seats earmarked for Scheduled Castes, OBCs, Scheduled Tribes, and so on. I told you about the two schools I headed. In one school, Christians might have constituted two per cent of the students; in the other, less than one per cent. In one school, Hindu students would have constituted about 90 per cent, and in the other, Muslims were in a large majority. In other words, no Christian parent could get elected to the SMC. The remaining 25 per cent will consist of local authority members (MLAs, ward members, sarpanches, etc.), teachers, educationists, subject experts, alumni, and ASHA, ANM, and AWW members. In effect, there will be no Christian on the committee. The committee members will elect a Chairperson and a Vice-Chairperson from among themselves. Naturally, a Christian is unlikely to become Chairperson. The Principal will be the Member Secretary, whose job will be to hold elections in a “democratic, transparent, and inclusive” manner and ensure that SMC meetings are held at least once a month. The Principal has no special powers, only special responsibilities. For instance, the Principal has to ensure that women constitute 50 per cent of the SMC and that all SMC meetings have at least 50 per cent attendance. Minutes cannot merely be kept in a register; they must be displayed on the notice board. Under your scheme of things, the SMC is the most powerful body in a school. You have given it enormous powers. The guidelines expect the school to open a bank account that will be operated by the SMC. It will also have access to all financial details, including fees collected, salaries paid, and other expenses incurred. All construction and renovation work costing up to Rs 30 lakh will be carried out by the SMC. Money raised through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives will also be utilised by the SMC, which itself has the responsibility to raise funds. What if it fails? There is no answer to such questions. The Chairperson and the Vice-Chairperson can hold office for two terms of two years each. The guidelines also envisage the formation of two sub-committees. The School Building Committee will look after infrastructure, repairs, safety, and accessibility. The Academic Committee will take care of learning outcomes, attendance, counselling, and academic monitoring. The major responsibilities of the SMC are to track dropouts and out-of-school children; support PTMs and academic progress; support FLN (Foundational Literacy and Numeracy) goals under NIPUN Bharat; monitor PM POSHAN implementation and promote hygiene and nutrition; monitor infrastructure, laboratories, libraries, digital learning, and sports facilities; and ensure child safety, anti-bullying measures, POCSO awareness, and disaster preparedness. In the schools I headed, a majority of the students were first-generation learners. Their parents, who will comprise 75 per cent of the SMC, will decide all these issues. The tasks of the SMCs are virtually unlimited. Let me quote your guidelines: every school must prepare a three-year special development programme. The DSP should include enrolment projections, teacher requirements, infrastructure needs, and financial planning. An annual review is mandatory. As regards financial management, separate joint bank accounts for SMC funds are mandatory, while a social audit is encouraged annually. Proper maintenance of cash books, stock registers, audit records, and vouchers is compulsory. In other words, the SMCs are all-powerful. School managements will have to dance to their whimsical tunes. The guidelines do not specify any remuneration for SMC officials. How can they be expected to work without compensation? They will inevitably seek allowances in the form of TA, DA, and other benefits. In the present scenario, who will become Chairperson or Vice-Chairperson of an SMC? Most likely an underemployed or unemployed local politician who may not even know what curriculum or pedagogy means. His interest would be to wield influence and make money. Since the SMC will have a decisive say in appointments, its members will ensure that vacancies are filled by their nominees. The question then is: what remedial action is envisaged if the SMC fails in its task? Earlier, it was the responsibility of the school management — in other words, the owners — to raise funds to construct new buildings or prudently manage school finances to meet such demands. If they failed, the reputation of their schools suffered. They had a stake in the institution. Unlike them, the SMC’s stake is limited to the education of their wards. If the SMC fails and the school suffers, nothing can be done against its office-bearers. I once visited a Christian school in Odisha, your own state. I do not remember the name of the school or even the place. But I remember the name of one R.K. Nayak, who was the first IAS officer from his community. He studied in that school. Last month, I travelled from Visakhapatnam to Khariar Road through Kandhamal and attended functions at local schools run by Christians. I met an Adivasi girl who wanted to become a doctor. I was greatly impressed by her command of the English language. For your information: when William Carey, an 18th-century missionary, reached Serampore, the first thing he did was set up a school where none existed. Yes, the rich Brahmins had their own Sanskrit-based education. The school he founded later grew into a university to which most Protestant and Syrian theological colleges are affiliated. They all flourished without your School Management Committees. Yes, Christian, Muslim, Sikh, and Jain schools will be affected most. That is not to say that other schools will not suffer. It will not affect you personally or people of your ilk because you can always choose to send your children to America, Australia, or Canada for their education. If you succeed in your plan, I can bet that it will destroy the autonomy of Christian schools and the uniqueness of the education they provide. Despite all the campaigns of calumny against them, people still have faith in Christian schools. Let me conclude with an anecdote. When I first went to Patna, I used to pass by a school named St. Severin. I thought “St.” stood for a Catholic saint. It actually represented a Singh and a Tiwari who jointly owned the school. It showed that the Christian tag attracted students. In light of all this, I submit respectfully that your well-intentioned SMC guidelines, far from strengthening school education, will dismantle the very fabric of minority institutions that have served this nation selflessly for centuries. By vesting absolute power in largely unaccountable local committees with no stake in a school’s long-term future, you are not democratising education, you are inviting chaos, corruption, and mediocrity. The autonomy of Christian, Muslim, Sikh, DAV and Jain schools will be crushed; their unique pedagogical ethos will be replaced by the whims of politicians and parents who may lack even basic educational literacy. I appeal to you to withdraw these guidelines immediately before they cause irreversible damage. Remember: when the school system collapses, the nation collapses with it. Please do not let that happen on your watch. Yours etc ajph...@gmail.com Courtesy: Indian Currents Photo courtesy: The Hindu

A C Michael (Full Name: Michael Anthony Cruz)

Former Member of Delhi Minorities Commission, Govt of NCT of Delhi 

President, Catholic Association of Archdiocese of Delhi (CAAD)

National Coordinator - United Christian Forum, India (UCF India)

National Coordinator - Inter-Faith & Ecumenical Relations of All India Catholic Union (AICU)

Delhi State President of All India Catholic Union

Independent Director, Touchwood Group of Companies

Chairman & Managing Director, Sirio India Inductive Components Pvt. Ltd

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