No unhealthy practices, warns CBSE

Thiruvananthapuram: The regional office of the Central Board of Secondary Education here will issue notices to schools indulging in commercial activities.

CBSE regional officer Tarun Kumar said many schools in the state are conducting engineering and medical entrance coaching classes in clear violation of the CBSE circular.

It directed affiliated schools not to indulge in entrance coaching on their premises.

"Holding classes of coaching institutions for various entrance exams is not approved by the board," he told DC.

The board asked them not to indulge in commercial activities like selling textbooks, notebooks, stationery items and bags.

"The high court order allowing the sale of textbooks in schools have also made clear that profiteering was not allowed, which means they can sell it at the distributors' price," said Mr Kumar.

"Charitable societies availing income tax exemption run most of the schools. If they indulge in profiteering, registrar of societies and income tax department can legally intervene."

During an inspection, his office had found Sabarigiri School in Anchal, Kollam, conducting an entrance coaching centre.

Though St Thomas Central School, Mukkolakkal, had its coaching centre outside the school premises, they were promoting it on its official website.

"The school has taken steps to rectify the defect," he said.

Kerala State CBSE Management Association president T.P.M. Ibrahim Khan said that regional office was prompting smaller schools to complain against ones through the circular.

"All schools, obeying CBSE directions and instructions, are not conducting entrance coaching on the campus. Our recent meeting had unanimously resolved to request the regional officer to take appropriate action on individual schools after issuing the necessary notice," he said.

"The present move aims at creating a division between the schools having a good student strength and others."

He likens the recent inspections to a ‘raid’ and insists that it should only be with a notice since schools are not commercial institutions.

"The inspections at Navdeepam Public School, Kollam, and Luke Memorial Public School, Perumbavoor, Ernakulam, besides the two are the glaring examples of an atmosphere of a terror created at the instance of the RO under the guise of inspection," he said.

"Parents are now reluctant to seek admissions in these schools even though they have a good reputation of over more than two decades. If it repeats, it will adversely affect even the existence of the CBSE schools. So such action should be curbed."

All-Kerala Parent-Teachers Association president Sudheer G. Kollara said activities like entrance coaching centres in schools was a violation of the law.

The aim was to attract students from other schools. They would tie-up with a coaching centre and give publicity to the school to lure students.

"The affiliation law of the CBSE has clear on banning commercial activities inside campuses," said Mr Kollara.