Schools under the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in the State are gearing up for the accreditation process based on various predefined areas prescribed by the board. The process, which has been going on for a while has been made mandatory by the board as per the recent circular sent to all affiliated schools, which also states that all schools have to get accredited once in five years. The process called School Quality Assessment and Accreditation Scheme (SQAA) aims at continuous quality improvement through self analysis and self monitoring of quality enhancement processes.
“The purpose of this proposal is to establish and maintain quality educational institutions in the country which are highlighted in the Five Year Plan. We will evaluate schools based on their performance in predetermined areas like classes held, management ability, resources available, and infrastructure,” said Ramandeep Kaur, Educational Officer, Academic and Training unit, CBSE. “Once the process is over the three best performing domains of all schools will be listed on the board’s website. Schools can highlight the same on their website and make efforts to improve in other areas,” she added.
To get accreditation, schools should get at least a 75 per cent marks out of the total. They should get at least 50 per cent marks in each domain. Once accredited, the school’s name shall be listed on the CBSE website under the list of accredited schools. The school may use the terminology ‘affiliated and accredited CBSE School’ instead of only using ‘affiliated to CBSE’.
Schools in the State say they are looking at the process positively. “It is good that factors other than academics are being taken into consideration in the process. We held a meeting with all the principals and discussed the issue. All are looking at the proposal positively, since it ensures transparency and we will do our best,” said Subbulakshmi, founder secretary of the Kongu Sahodaya School Complex, a cluster of CBSE schools in the western region.
“We are looking forward to setting up a school accreditation committee and discussing SQAA with all the stake holders. We will have to need all documents like budget records, school profile, building plan and data base on parents and teachers to convince the visiting team,” said a school teacher. Schools will have a three-year period to apply for SQAA.
Every affiliated school has to apply with a form of intent through the website accreditation.cbseacdemics.in. The schools will be visited by a three-member expert team called Peer Assessor Team (PAT) for validation of data and collection of supportive evidence. The CBSE will take a final call on the accreditation later. The board has advised schools not to take any help from private agencies in this regard. The fee for accreditation has been fixed at `55,000.