New Delhi, Aug. 20: India’s largest school education board is likely to be headless for over six months as the Centre is struggling to find candidates qualified to lead it in implementing the plans to universalise secondary education.

The human resource development ministry has rejected all six nominees shortlisted for the post of chairman, the Central Board of Secondary Education, propelling the CBSE towards uncertainty, officials said.

The chairman’s post fell vacant after the human resource development minister personally rejected pleas from outgoing CBSE chief Ashok Ganguly for an extension to his eight-year long tenure, sources said. Over 9,000 schools across India and over a dozen abroad are affiliated to the CBSE and follow its curriculum.

In May this year, the ministry invited applications for the post of chairman, CBSE. The ministry circular said applicants must be younger than 58 — Ganguly had crossed this age bar.

He, however, petitioned the ministry, questioning the age bar in the circular, sources said. His petition was turned down by Arjun, they said.

A committee was set up to select Ganguly’s successor — but none of the six choices has found favour with the ministry.

The ministry has now decided to launch a fresh selection process for the post, and will soon invite applications through advertisements.

“We will relax some of the criteria, such as a minimum of 15 years of administrative experience. The objective is to attract people with fresh ideas. But equally crucially, the chairman must be someone renowned,” a school education official said. The process of fresh selections is expected to take around six months, the official said.

The Planning Commission and finance ministry recently approved the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), a scheme aimed at universalising secondary school education in India.

The RMSA is supposed to ensure 100 per cent enrolment at the secondary school stage by 2017 — the end of the XIIth Five Year Plan — and 100 per cent retention by 2020.

The brainchild of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the scheme was conceived as the government felt the gains of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) — aimed at universalising primary schooling -- might otherwise be squandered. The RMSA, the government hopes, will ensure that children enrolled under the SSA do not drop out.

Ganguly was first selected for the post in May 2000. He was among the rare heads of central educational bodies given an extension by Arjun despite being hired during the NDA rule.