'Govt norms for PTA selections undemocratic'

Parents feel the new government norms of forming Parent-Teacher Associations (PTA) in all unaided schools is undemocratic because the executive committee is chosen with a lottery system and not an election process.

Parents feel the new government norms of forming Parent-Teacher Associations (PTA) in all unaided schools is undemocratic because the executive committee is chosen with a lottery system and not an election process.

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The state issued a government resolution (GR) on Tuesday on PTAs that is applicable across various boards in the city. A rule in the GR states that if there are more applicants than the seats for a particular post in an executive committee (the main working committee of the PTA), selection should be done by lots.

"How can this be a matter of luck? Representatives should be voted like any other body. The purpose of the PTA is lost," said Dinesh Dubey (39), a parent from St Xavier's School, Andheri.

"Majority of the parents are not even aware of the existence of a PTA and so they may not even attend these meetings."

While parents are arguing about the undemocratic ways of selecting parents, principals of unaided schools feel the system will not truly represent the "voice" of parents.

Educationists feel the GR will empower parents a lot more.

"This fear of parents is baseless as there is more representation of parents in the executive committee and for bigger schools, manipulation by the management will not be possible," said Basanti Roy, former Secretary, Mumbai division, SSC and HSC board.