The Department of School Education and Literacy (DSEL) has been cracking down for the past fortnight on the management of “central curriculum” schools without the required affiliation, while giving an impression to parents that they are affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) or the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations. DSEL has Notices were given to more than 700 such schools, over 600 in Bengaluru alone. However, people in the know say that this has been going on for years and reflects the failure of the government to regulate the ecosystem.
Most of these schools, while they have affiliation only with the state board, say they are teaching either ICSE or CBSE curriculum, violating norms of the Karnataka Education Act, 1983 and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 are doing. ,
huge demand for central board schools
As data shows that students studying the central curriculum have an edge in entrance examinations for professional courses, there has been a huge demand for schools teaching the central curriculum. This has led many educational institutions to make false claims that they are affiliated to one of the central boards and, in turn, charge several times more than schools following the state syllabus.
In the past few weeks, parents of children studying in one such school protested as the school, which claimed to be affiliated to CBSE and hitherto taught that syllabus, suddenly distributed state syllabus textbooks . The protest soon spread to several branches of the school chain in the city and an FIR was lodged against one of them in Nagarbhavi.
The school said in a statement that nine of their branches already have CBSE affiliation, while others are “in the process” of getting it. The process normally takes 3-4 years, which they claim has been further delayed due to the pandemic. These protests opened a can of worms.
public examinations exposed it all
The phenomenon of schools claiming affiliation from the Central Board is not a new one. This has been happening right under the nose of DSEL for many years. But what set the cat among the pigeons was the department’s recent decision to conduct a public examination for classes V and VIII.
Since schools with central curriculum do not have any public examination till class X, educational institutions have enough time to get affiliated to the central board long after setting up the school. Till then many schools remain affiliated to the state board teaching the central syllabus.
However, with the introduction of public exams for classes V and VIII from this academic year in state-affiliated schools, they were forced to teach state syllabus textbooks to students, leaving parents unaware of what Were.
check for irregularities
Meanwhile, DSEL had constituted a three-member committee headed by the Block Education Officer (BEO) in each taluk to survey the schools to check irregularities. Following the survey, DSEL issued notices to more than 700 schools across the state, alleging that they were falsely claiming affiliation to a central board when they had affiliation to a state board and taught that curriculum. Were staying
However, a section of the private school management said the survey launched against them by the department in response to corruption allegations leveled against them a few months back was an “outrageous one”.
how the system works
Neither CBSE nor CISCE provides affiliation to the newly opened school. They must first obtain a state board affiliation for classes I to V and run a school for five years, after which they can obtain a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the state government to obtain affiliation from a central board.
After applying, the Central Board issues a provisional certificate only to indicate that the said school is “under consideration” for affiliation. Then, based on the inspection report, the board grants a permanent affiliation. This process takes about five years. If the board refuses affiliation, it will continue to function as a state board school.
protect the schools
However, without following this process and waiting for affiliation, many schools are taking students who are already claiming affiliation from one of the Central Boards. In case the parents want any clarification, these schools usually show the provisional certificate issued by the concerned Central Board or NOC issued by the State Government.
Some have mentioned their school as affiliated to a central board on the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) portal of the Government of India, which is only a self-declaration.
Right now, the pressure on students studying in these schools, especially in classes V and VIII this year, is a significant concern. These students, who were being taught NCERT textbooks, are now being given state syllabus textbooks to prepare for public examinations, leaving them under extreme stress and confusion. Neither the school management nor DSEL has come out with a plan yet on how these kids will deal with it.
Lax enforcement and corruption
Though DSEL has the power to withdraw NOC issued to any school and impose heavy penalty for violation of rules, no such action has been taken.
Sasikumar D., general secretary of the Associated Management of English Medium Schools in Karnataka (KAMS), said that despite their repeated appeals, no action has been taken against schools that falsely claim and follow the central curriculum. Alleging large-scale collusion between the school management and the authorities, he said that the BEO’s reports on school inspections should not be blindly trusted, and they must be made public to allow DSEL to investigate and seek objections, They said.
Minister promises transparency
However, School Education and Literacy Minister BC Nagesh assured strict action against the erring schools as per the law. “We are conducting public exams for classes V and VIII to prevent such irregularities. We are also planning to launch a separate portal to disclose the names and addresses of all unauthorized and fake schools.