KOCHI: The General Education Department has issued an order allowing students in unrecognised schools to join state board institutions without a transfer certificate (TC). The order, issued on Tuesday, has riled CBSE school managements, who question its intent and are worried about losing students and pending fees.“Though the order says unrecognised schools, many parents will see it as a way to escape from paying dues,” said Indira Rajan, secretary-general, Council of CBSE Schools, Kerala (CCSK). As per the department, the only document required to get admission to an aided or government school is a letter from the parent.
“How can that be right?” she asked. “In this case, the student will be registered under two different boards. Many cases are being reported by CBSE schools wherein students who have migrated to state board schools continue to attend online classes of their former school. This is happening without parents paying even a penny,” she said. “Does it not amount to encouraging parents to shift the children from CBSE-affiliated schools without clearing the dues?
“Also, how are they going to identify whether the student is coming from an unrecognised school? There will be no transparency,” she added. However, Mohammed Hanish, principal secretary (General Education), said, “There is no question of any anomalies happening. It is the choice of parents and students to go to a different school. There is no need to set up a tracking system. But we will look into the doubts.”
He said the decision was arrived at after taking into consideration the special scenario created by the pandemic. “We have received many complaints about schools harassing parents for fees. This forced the government to come up with a solution,” he added.
Indira refuted the allegation. “Why doesn’t the government understand that we run our institutions without getting any aid or grant from it? We have to collect fees that go into paying salaries of teachers and other staff. Except for one or two isolated incidents, no issues have been reported from any of our schools,” she said. “As per the recent Supreme Court judgement, parents have to remit 85% of overdue fees of 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, the remaining 15% being deductions on account of expenses not likely to be incurred when schools remain closed physically. This 85% can be paid in equal monthly instalments from March to August. This was the pattern we followed last year,” she said.
This academic year too, CBSE schools have decided to follow the same fee concession pattern. “The government’s decision will place CBSE schools in severe financial strain. More than a lakh teachers depend on these schools. Once the schools close down, they will end up on the streets,” she added.She said there is also a widespread apprehension that this will encourage poaching of students by aided schools. “If these schools can show a division gain, they will be able to recruit teachers by taking huge sums of money in donations. It is already happening,” she said. Hanish refuted the allegation. “No recruitment is happening as of now. With classes going online, the need for extra teachers doesn’t arise and hence, such a claim doesn’t stand,” he said.
Another issue faced by CBSE schools is the delay in the issuance of the No-Objection Certificate (NOC). “Why do we have so many unrecognised schools? That is because of official apathy. Many schools have been waiting for the NOC for years, that too after meeting all required criteria,” she said. However, Hanish said the NOC can’t be issued on a person’s whim. “It takes time and has to be done per the government policies. There is no deliberate delay,” he added. During a meeting held recently by CCSK, CBSE school managements decided to stand united against the moves to weaken the sector.