Answer: Hmm That's a very Good question!
I've been a part of student council twice and what i have been told is that it is important for these reasons. It gives a chance to the students to display their leadership skills and further improve those skills for future. It also help students to learn the importance of team work. Students learn to take responsibility at an early age. Since the members of the council are students, they also represent the ideas of the rest of the students of the school. They know exactly what is right for students and what's not. Moreover, they help in maintaining the proper discipline and decorum of the school. However, what i feel is that The student council is formed just to reduce the work and lessen the load on teachers. For Example -Keeping an eye on the students when the teacher is busy or in her absence. Conducting the school assembly so that the teachers don't have to worry about it. If anything goes wrong, the council can easily be blamed. Even the tasks which a teacher is supposed to do like making Announcements in class, etc. are performed by the council. I always find it to be a waste of time and i think i hardly learned any leadership skill. Your job is to listen deeply. Not just with what people say, but with their face, their body language, and with their action. That is hard work. If your school is 1000 kids, it’s hard to listen to all 1000. Good luck :)