The community based monitoring of schools program is being institutionalized in Jabal Saraj district of Parwan province.
With support and active involvement of community members, the CBM-S local monitors have had significant achievements. Community members have played an active role in improving discipline within the Gul Bahar Boys High School. However, communication between school management and the community seems to still lack maturity. Some minor but important issues surface, from time to time as a result of lack of communication.
In a recent meeting, Some community members reported to CBM-S staff that some of the teachers at Gul Bahar Boys school misuse their authority and use students as manual laborers. The CBM-S team, in order to get to the core of the issue contacted school officials and found out that there has been a misunderstanding among community members. School officials denied any such claims and acknowledged that such practices were common three to four decades ago and is neither practiced nor acceptable today. In order to bridge the gap between the school and the community, the CBM-S program arranged an interface meeting in which community elders praised the improvement brought in Gul Bahar Boy High School in terms of reduction in student/teacher absenteeism, regularity of SMS meeting and favorable environment for education as a result of which there is a growing interest in schooling among the community. This gave a boost in moral to the school officials.
The CBM-S in general and its local monitors in particular continue to work closely with community members and school officials to reduce the communication gap between school management and the community.
