CHENNAI: The Central Board of Secondary Education - Chennai Regional Office has sent notices to two affiliated schools in Coimbatore for conducting admission tests.
According to CBSE affiliation by-laws, schools affiliated to the board are restricted from subjecting children seeking admission into any form of screening procedure. However, the practice is allegedly rampant across CBSE affiliated schools.
Recently, M Sanjai Gandhi, a parent from Coimbatore, knocked at the doors of leading CBSE schools in the city to admit his child in grade I. To his surprise, two schools - Suguna PIP and Chandrakanthi Public School - informed him that his six-year-old child would be admitted only on the basis of the results of
entrance tests.
Apart from tests to analyse scholastic tests, one of the schools had an exam for testing language skills in Hindi. The school also advised the parent to enrol the kid in nearby private Hindi coaching centres since they had ample time left before the exams in March.
Despite strict instructions from the board not to screen applicants, these schools have gone a step ahead by publicly uploading schedule for these tests in their official websites.
Irked over this, the parent had filed a complaint with the CBSE Regional Office, Chennai. In his complaint, it was mentioned that the schools, apart from organising tests, were also demanding exorbitant capitation fees. “On an average, institutions in Coimbatore demand `70,000 to ` 1 lakh for a kindergarten admission, which increases manifold for middle and high school grades,” he said.
Responding to the complaint, the deputy secretary from CBSE Chennai, G Chandra, sent notices to the schools seeking an explanation last Tuesday. However, T S Viswanath, president of Suguna PIP, said that they did not receive any notice from the board and refused to comment further. The other school management was unavailable for comments despite repeated attempts.
This was not the first instance of CBSE schools allegedly violating byelaws. Such procedures were common even for admission to the 25 per cent reserved seats for students from economically weaker sections under Right of Children for Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.
Last year, a school in Pollachi had rejected applicants for KG sections as the children’s handwriting was not legible and parents refused to buy training material.
M Prakash, a local educational activist said, though the School Education Department was aware about these violations, they turn a blind eye when it was brought to their notice. He added that the schools do not understand the kind of impact a rejection at this stage would make on the young minds.
Responding to this, a local Education Department official said that they would look into the matter, but pointed out that as collection of fees doesn’t come under their purview, only the CBSE can initiate probe into that aspect.