Major Changes Expected in CBSE Affiliation Bye-Laws

Vinod Kakumanu
July 10, 2018, 11:19 a.m.

CBSE affiliation bye-laws are set for an overhaul. The proposals containing guidelines for far-reaching changes in the examination policy and affiliation bye-laws have been drafted and sent for consideration to Ministry of Human Resource and Development for approval. The proposal that is being construed as making the case for the revamping of the affiliation bye-laws has already been approved by the governing body of the CBSE. Besides this, the examination committee is reported to have been given more executive authority, which seems only rational in the light of scams and paper leaks in the CBSE board examinations, and some changes in the curriculum have been proposed to the NCERT by the board.

We believe the proposed changes in the affiliation bye-laws, will make it less arduous for the schools to decipher the bye-laws, apply and obtain affiliation. It remains to be seen if concessions are made in the land and infrastructural requirements besides the reduction in the procedural length and application processing time. It is expected that the affiliation process that currently spans between 16 to 18 months will take considerably less time of 6 months.

That implies ease for promoters starting a CBSE school and new entrants into the education sector. The sheer length of the process and the long tenure of the consideration before the affiliation is granted to the school had long been putting edupreneurs in logistical difficulties. And for the ones who contemplate setting up a school and subsequently making it a CBSE school,

deciphering affiliation bye-laws has very often been unduly hard. Affiliation bye-laws contain clauses about the minimum land requirement, documentation, qualifications of teachers, remuneration and financials that the school must conform to, among other critical conditions about the state of the school desired by the board. This makes the document crucial and, at the same time, voluminous. The affiliation bye-laws document which is a 90-page volume is getting trimmed down to 40 pages.

As a matter of course correction, “duplication” of procedures that take place in the course of inspection for granting affiliation to a school would be done away with. The present state of affairs has a lot of inspection, verification, and reviews that end up being done multiple times at two different levels. for instance, the inspection committee’s review of the documents related to the land and infrastructure is carried out despite the fact that every operational school already has the necessary certifications and permissions from the state education department. Other bureaucratic measures of checking conformity in the documentation and details about the amenities will stand curtailed if the reforms are finally approved.

The inspection committee that assesses the suitability of the school for affiliation will focus on reviewing the outcomes of the institution that relate to pedagogy, academics, teachers’ competence and level of training, initiative, and innovation.