Local governments

A student of Delhi University, Raghavendra Parpanna, wanted to
study the role of decentralisation in decision making about primary
education. He asked some questions to the villagers. These questions
are given below. If you were among those villagers, what answer
would you give to each of these questions?
A meeting of the Gram Sabha is to be called to discuss what
steps should be taken to ensure that every child of the village goes
to the school.
a. How would you decide the suitable day for the meeting? Think
who would be able to attend / not attend the meeting because
of your choice.
(i) A day specified by the BDO or the collector
(ii) Day of the village haat
(iii) Sunday
(iv) Naag panchami / sankranti
b. What is a suitable venue for the meeting? Why?
(i) Venue suggested by the circular of the district collector.
(ii) Religious place in the village.
(iii) Dalit Mohalla.
(iv) Upper caste Tola
(v) Village school
c. In the Gram Sabha meeting firstly a circular sent by the district
collector was read. It suggested what steps should be taken to
organise an education rally and what should be its route. The
meeting did not discuss about the children who never come to
school or about girls’ education, or the condition of the school
building and the timing of the school. No women teacher
attended the meeting as it was held on Sunday.
What do you think about these proceedings as an instance
of people’s participation?
d. Imagine your class as the Gram Sabha. Discuss the agenda of
the meeting and suggest some steps to realise the goal.