VEC stands for Village Education Committee under SSA(Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan). Village Education Committee is defined as a regulatory body that exists in a village at the school level.VEC guarantees the community’s interest in the smooth running of the school and this also encourages parents to send their kids to class.VEC's main goal is to universalize elementary schooling. In micro-planning, infrastructure maintenance of schools, supervision of educational institutions and teacher efficiency, and planning of village education, the committee plays an important role. India’s commitment to universalise Elementary Education (UEE) was reconfirmed in the National Policy on Education, 1986, which got updated in 1992. To achieve this, the participation of the local community becomes a great need, without which India’s dream to universalise Elementary Education could not be possible. The effective cooperation of the local community can be achieved at its best through VEC. VEC refers to the Village Education Committee. VEC occurs to be a strong link between the local community and the primary and secondary education of the children from the local community.
There are many abbreviations of VEC which are mentioned below-
Term | Abbreviation | Category |
VEC | Virtual Enterprise Coordinator | Softwares |
VEC | Electronics Corporation | Electronics |
VEC | Vocational Education Committee | Universities & Institutions |
VEC | Virginia Employment Commission | Departments & Agencies |
VEC | Valence Electron Concentration | Chemistry |
VEC | Vermont Electric Cooperative | Companies & Corporations |
VEC | Volunteer Energy Cooperative | Regional Organizations |
The major role played by VEC includes the help it provides in achieving the UEE, by improving the quality of the education provided to children by the utilization of the effective participation of the local community at each level. It becomes one of the main functions of VEC to formulate an appealing and encouraging environment for education in the villages. Likewise, VEC must construct a physically attractive school for encouraging the children and local community towards schooling, by providing a safe and hygienic environment. Some of the more specific roles and functions of VEC, while planning the village education program are as mentioned:
Adopt holistic planning and management in order to integrate the goal of UEE.
Planning to integrate gender inequality.
Managing and developing strategies to motivate out-of-school children.
Enhancing the effectiveness of the school.
Ensuring capacity-building of the school staff.
Improving the blending of elementary education with other services such as school health programs, free mid-day meals etc.
Some of the general expectations from VEC are as mentioned:
Aiding in achieving the goal of UEE through active participation.
Planning several upliftment programs for educating rural children in order to achieve UEE.
Helping the school to improve the enrolment rate of the children.
Conducting several local and regional surveys in order to provide the correct status as well as to disseminate information about schooling within the villages.
Focussing more on girls’ education and providing special aid to children from the deprived section of society.
Improving the quality of primary education provided in schools.
Ensuring the availability of different physical facilities to schools
Helping the school in eliminating several social issues and behaving positively to various negative social attitudes.
Improving the school's capacity building.
Facilitating the implementation of adult education and preschool education.
Maintaining school discipline and playing a critical role in school hygiene and cleanliness.
Providing feedback regarding several issues faced during the effective management of the schools to high authorities.
Evaluating the progress and achievement of students.
It is expected that all the above-mentioned goals are achieved by VEC through several meetings, discussions, communication with villagers, conducting surveys and gathering local information.
VEC constitute the below-mentioned representatives who play an active role in order to achieve the objectives of VEC:
Gram Panchayat nominates a few of the members of VEC which may also include the members of each ethnic group such as Schedule Castes, Schedule Tribes, minority caste members, women, tribal members etc.
Headteacher of the primary school.
One woman teacher is appointed by the head teacher.
One nominated member from the NGOs.
One member each from among the preschool educator/the village nurse/ a health worker.
One member is nominated by the parent-teacher association.
One social worker.
Gram Sachiv.
The committee may select their President and Vice-President among these mentioned members.
Around 50% of females shall constitute the VEC, in order to develop the strategies and planning to uplift village education, especially for girls.
All children of age 6-14 must get an elementary education under the goals of VEC.
The tenure of the elected members of the VEC may vary in different regions, but depends upon the decision of the VEC.
Few of the ways to attract rural children to schools include; good school infrastructure, mid-day meals, health and sanitation facilities, free books, sports etc.
The members nominated by NGOs, will have better social influences and links in order to advocate the importance of education in society, especially among the less-informed classes of society.