Changing Framework of Local Governance and - Create

Changing Framework of Local Governance and Community Participation in Elementary Educationaffairs. One such effort may be to improve trust with the community by involving them indifferent activities including financial transactions. One Government of India document states:To ensure effective participation, it is essential to have faith in the community abilitywithout which all efforts to bring about their participation would be half hearted. Thecommunity is heterogeneous, stratified and has different sections with differing andsometimes antagonistic interest too. While eliciting community support, it is importantthat persons belonging to deprived sections get due representation in the form createdfor community participation (GoI, 1999:13).In view of this, more and more community-based activities have found their place in SSAplans. In some states, local self-government bodies have been given the authority to select andrecruit teachers. For example, the Rajasthan Government has modified the procedure ofteacher recruitment such that while regular primary school teachers are recruited by ZillaParishads, (Ramachandran, 2001). Gram sabha and panchayats are entrusted with theselection of para-teachers. It may be mentioned that even though some aspects of thisapproach to teacher recruitment has been questioned, empowering local self governmentbodies with respect to the governance of elementary education has been one of therecommendations of constitutional amendments concerning the composition of PanchayatiRaj bodies. Almost all states have taken this policy option to meet the challenges of increasingenrolment by recruiting more and more teachers at the local level.In spite of policy recommendations, the examples of the non-participation and exclusion ofparents and community from school affairs is still apparent in many cases and this is a majorconcern. Often their participation remains limited to the contribution of resources in cash orkind 31 . Local management of education, community participation in educational management,building community ownership, seems oversimplified. One recent study (Ramachandran,2004) has explored the complex web of interrelationships between social power and formaleducation. In a review of this work, (Manjrekar, 2005:248) states that:Dynamics of poor at the family, community and village level determine which childgoes to which school, which groups have a say in the working of local levelcommunities to monitor education, as well as the social experience of the child inschool. The types of schools available and their location within villages marked bycaste separation and segregation also play a critical role in influencing parent’sdecisions about schooling for their children. What emerges clearly is that in a situationwhere parallel systems of schooling exist, who goes to which school is increasinglycoming to be defined by the child’s gender, class caste and community…….. similarcomplexities arise in the context of village education committees, where local politicsof class caste and gender play an important role in their working.Problems regarding community participation are also found in states like Kerala. A recentstudy by Mukundan and Bray (2004) indicates that the rhetoric of decentralisation in theeducation sector does not match the reality in this state that has strong reputation for politicalparticipation and has introduced recent initiatives for decentralisation. Experience shows thatmany institutional structures such as Village Education Committees and school complexes31 The study conducted by Ramachandran et.al. (2002:1608) reveals that the “evidence from the field indicatesthat they (VECs) either do not function or seem to function with a mechanical intensity rather than a genuinesense of participation and commitment.” While in Haryana, the VECs were found upholding “the interests ofdominant group”, (1608) in Madhya Pradesh, “caste identities were reflected in school committees” (1608).28