KOHIMA, JUNE 18 (MExN): School Grants are available for all 1,953 Government Schools in Nagaland under the name ‘Performance Incentive Grants’ as part of the Governance and Capacity Building component of Nagaland Education Project-The Lighthouse (NECTAR), a project funded by the World Bank.
A press release from the Project Director, Thavaseelan K informed that grant can be availed by the School Management Committees (SMCs) and School Management and Development Committees (SMDCs).
The project emphasizes to reinforce the relevance of ‘Communitisation’ of schools and strengthen the community’s role as guardians of public institutions. The press release informed that lack of information and capacity of the SMCs and SMDCs has hindered their involvement in the school system. Therefore, to build capacity and to enhance participation and promote commitment of the SMCs and SMDCs, the Performance Incentive Grants is being made available for all Government Schools in Nagaland in three batches over a two year period.
The SMCs and SMDCs are given the liberty to make their own need-based proposals (Action Plan). While the guidelines discourage major infrastructural works, the committees are encouraged to focus on improving and augmenting the school learning environment and undertake urgent repair and renovations.
As part of community engagement, activities like monthly SMC/SMDC meetings, half yearly Parent Teacher meetings, outreach to dropouts and vulnerable groups have been made mandatory. The committees are also encouraged to come up with innovative activities and ways to revive indigenous practices through story telling sessions, hands-on sessions in handicraft, weaving, gardening, farming, etc.
Out of 1,953 Government Schools, 1,741 submitted applications for the first batch. A total of 743 applications were shortlisted for the first batch based on specific set of criteria after thorough screening of the applications. Orientation and capacity building for the SMCs and SMDCs of the shortlisted schools covering all the districts were conducted in the District Headquarters from May 16 to 24.
PIG proposals for 738 schools have been approved and the funds will be disbursed directly to the SMC and SMDC accounts by the last week of June 2022 post signing of the MoUs, the press release informed. The work implementation period is from July 1 to November 15, 2022.
In order to ensure accountability, a monitoring mechanism has been put in place which requires the committees to maintain all records pertaining to their activities in a Monitoring and Reporting booklet which comprise of easy to fill templates. Activity records have to be validated with date and time stamped pictures of ‘Before’ and ‘After’ intervention period and has been made mandatory for all categories of repair and civil works. All procurements should be validated by bills and vouchers in original. Surprise monitoring visits will be undertaken by Education Officials and Project Officials as well as the Area Administrative Officers to further provide any course correction steps if required.
In order to address the issue of accountability and judicious use of funds, an assessment mechanism has also been put in place wherein the Area Administrative Officers have assigned as the external assessors who will conduct an on-site assessment of all the activities and works undertaken after the end of each installment.
A Completion Certificate will be issued if works are found satisfactory, failing which the SMCs/SMDCs will not be eligible for the subsequent installments. In the event of any misuse of funds, the SMCs/SMDCs may be blacklisted and furthermore excluded from availing future grants from the Project/Department.
All shortlisted schools have been informed to contact the District Project Assistants (NECTAR) or EBRC co-ordinators (SAMAGRA) for signing of the MoU on or before June 24.
