Thiruvananthapuram: The CBSE is cut up with the state government for interfering in the issues of CBSE schools.
CBSE Thiruvananthapuram regional officer Tarun Kumar has written a letter to all the 14 district deputy directors of education department asking them not to harass the schools.
The general education department had earlier asked nearly 1,800 schools, including affiliated ones, to close down for want of CBSE or department recognition.
Education Minister C. Raveendranath told the Assembly on Wednesday that the decision was taken on the direction of the Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights. Notices were issued to 1,585 schools, he said in reply to an adjournment notice on the move to close down unaided schools.
Mr Tarun Kumar told Deccan Chronicle that he had issued the letter as the functioning of the schools was being affected by the interference by the state government.
The letter pointed out that some of the AEOs and DEOs across the state have been issuing letters to CBSE-affiliated schools asking them to shift students from class I to VIII to nearby government and aided schools and not to admit any more students in their classes on the ground that these schools don’t have permission to run the classes. The officials had said that the permission granted by the CBSE was only for classes IX to XII. This had created panic among parents and children, the letter pointed out.
The CBSE has a process of issuing composite affiliation, including approval for running classes from standard I to X for schools affiliated up to X and from I to XII for schools affiliated up to XII level, said the letter.
The district-wise list of CBSE-approved and affiliated schools authorised by the CBSE to run classes up to 10th or 12th was also included with the letter.
The CBSE is an autonomous body working under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development. It is the leading educational board in the country and has a robust system of school inspection. Schools are affiliated after due process looking into the infrastructure and facilities available as prescribed in the affiliation bylaws of the CBSE, the letter said.
The CBSE has affiliated approximately 1,350 institutions in Kerala and granted them affiliation for running classes up to XII. They are imparting quality education and thereby serving society, the letter added.
Earlier, the Kerala CBSE School Managements Association had written a letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan requesting him to keep in abeyance all such proceedings and redress the grievances of the fledgling schools.
Association general secretary Ms Indira Rajan told Deccan Chronicle that the regional office of the CBSE intervened after the association took up the issue with the CBSE. The government was coercing the CBSE schools as stated by the regional officer in his letter, said Ms Rajan.
The association had taken up the matter with Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar and CBSE officials in Delhi.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had stayed the circular issued by the state government on October 7, 2011 implementing various guidelines for operating CBSE schools. The court prevented the state government from taking any action against these schools till it disposed of the case.
The government circular had insisted that CBSE schools should have three acres of land, out of which at least two acres should be in the actual location of school and that they should compulsorily teach Malayalam, have a minimum strength of 300 students and enroll students in Aadhaar.
