Matriculation schools may have reportedly demanded a conversion to the CBSE board, but the process is far from easy.
Take the case of Doveton Matriculation School, in Purasawakkam, Chennai. It had applied for conversion to the ICSE board a little over a year ago and the process seemed to proceed without a hitch, until a section of parents of school students objected and brought the process to a screeching halt, informs M Venkatachalam, State secretary of the Tamil Nadu Private School Teacher’s Association.
Today, the process is hanging midair in the courts, he says.
The conversion process entails complex procedures, such as obtaining a no-objection certificate from the State government and procedural measures at the Central level.
Senior academicians also point out that this was, perhaps, waiting to happen, as talks about it were in the air for a while. They speculate that matriculation schools may have been arm-twisted into following certain regulations prescribed for them, especially those relating to admission and fee structure. In this regard, Venkatachalam points out that regulations such as the student-teacher ratios, as stipulated in the Right to Education (RTE) rules – that call for greater recruitment of teachers — seems a tad unfair to private-run matriculation schools.
A major problem facing private schools, however, could be that of the demand for teachers. “Teachers are in great demand. On the one hand there is a paucity for good teachers, and on the other, the capable teaching staff ‘escape’ to other sectors, notably the government,” says Venkatachalam.
As many as 60 teachers have flitted in and out of two private schools in Dharmapuri, which produced a clutch of State-toppers in the SSLC examinations, he informs.