BENGALURU: The Union ministry of education has clarified that private schools, which do not receive government aid or grants, are exempted from having School Management Committees (SMC) mandated by the School Management Committee Guidelines – 2026.

Archana Sharma Awasthi, the additional secretary of the department of school education and literacy under the ministry of education, said on Thursday that the ministry had received concerns regarding the applicability of the guidelines to private unaided schools after a communication dated May 11 mentioned that SMCs should be formed in schools of all management types.

Awasthi said the mandate would not be binding to schools covered under Section 2(n)(iv) of the Right to Education (RTE) Act unless they receive financial assistance from the government or local authorities. However, the schools may voluntarily form SMCs to improve governance and transparency, she said.

The clarification came after objections were raised by the Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka (KAMS), which submitted a representation to Sanjay Kumar, the secretary of the department of school education and literacy on May 15, seeking a corrigendum to the earlier letter.