Hyderabad: Excessive official meddling in affairs of school alumni association

Hyderabad: Can a village sarpanch who has not studied in a school become a member of its alumni association?

This question has come to the fore following a G.O. 4 issued on February 3, notifying Mana Ooru-Mana Badi and Mana Basti-Mana Badi. The order was issued with a noble intention to initiate comprehensive development and strengthening of infrastructure of government and local body schools in the State in a phased manner.

Speaking to The Hans India, a gazetted headmaster of a ZP School, Malkajgiri, pointed out that the order asks every school to form an alumni association to rope in old students to participate in its development.

But it also stipulates composition of an alumni association. According to the G.O. two active members representing the association, the sarpanch of the village in which the school is located and the school headmaster form a committee.

The committee will initiate development work, maintenance of school and mobilisation of funds through philanthropic donations and under the corporate social responsibility (CSR).

Sharing his experience, S Raghu Rao (name changed) of a government high school in Secunderabad said, "so far an alumni association remains an affair between the old students, school, their teacher and the current headmaster."

An old student or a group of students who have studied in the school lives in the city or village coordinates with the school on behalf of all their batch mates. They pitch in meeting any requirements of the school, including furniture, distribution books, extending financial help to deserving students, donating blackboards, drinking water filters. In some places, the associations are formed as old students' association. But, mostly, the expenditure they incur is based on taking feedback from the school about its requirements. Be it helping individual students or meeting its needs.

In some cases, students form themselves into an association and elect a committee on their own. They meet periodically at the school if no students live in a place where their school is located. In turn, the representatives of the committee interact with the school headmaster and teachers, sometimes directly with students to know the requirements.

"If there is any major initiative, like donating classrooms, the headmaster or the teachers would coordinate with officials. Sometimes the school management committees (SMCs) seek help from old students," he added.

However, the GO snatches away the freedom an alumnus passionately wants to do something for their schools. It stipulates how funds collected by the alumni be jointly administered by the headmaster, school management committee and two active members of the association operating a separate account. A further stipulation imposed on the association is that funds should be spent only on school infrastructure with the approval of the district collectors. As if that is not enough, the interest accrued on funds collected by the associations should be used to meet maintenance of school. What's more interesting is that the GO aims to incur expenditure from the alumni collected funds on infrastructure and maintenance. It does not take a single word about procurement of books for the school library, offering scholarships to students, and a host of other things which the alumni want to do.