Schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will very soon come under the purview of an accreditation system.
Altogether 12 agencies have recently finished doing a pilot study in 40 CBSE schools in the country on how to implement the certification system, said CBSE Chairman Vineet Joshi, who was here to attend the principals’ meet of the CBSE affiliated schools at the DAV School, Chandrasekharpur, Unit II campus, on Saturday.
“The proposed accreditation would not only enhance reputation of the schools, butalso help parents decide good schools not just on hearsay but on the basis of an objective evaluation by the third party in a transparent manner,” said Joshi.
Under this system, accreditation teams will be formed comprising officials of the agencies, representatives of the Board and peer assessors (fellow principals). “We are going to implement this system very soon and have made necessary amendments in the accreditation by-laws,” he said.
After a formal announcement of implementation of the system, it will be made mandatory for all 14,000 schools under CBSE purview to get themselves accredited within three years. “In case some schools are not able to get themselves accredited, we will help them come up to that level.
Accreditation will be given to the schools after judging them on seven parameters -academics, co-curricular activities, infrastructure, human resources, co-scholastics activities, finance and view of the stakeholders,” he said. On controversies surrounding fee hike in DAV schools in Odisha, the Chairman said all CBSE-affiliated schools have been asked to increase fees only in accordance with the facilities being provided at schools. “Fees cannot be increased in mid-session and fee hike if required will only be done after taking the parents into confidence,” he said, adding that the entire procedure should be transparent. Joshi said CBSE’s focus is now on skill development of students. The Board has introduced skill development in schools from Class IX onwards from this academic session. Earlier, the training was provided from Class XI onwards. This will prepare students to handle challenges of the job market with ease. CBSE has short-listed some skill knowledge providers and students will be trained in four areas - retail, information technology, security and automobile.
CBSE Chairman said, “This course is essential for students to excel and emerge successful in real life situation of work. Five hundred CBSE schools have so far evinced interest in implementing skill development training.” He, however, could not say how many from Odisha are willing to start the course. There are around 145 CBSE affiliated schools in Odisha.