Jamshedpur, Feb. 2: A team from the New Delhi-based Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has put some affiliated schools under the scanner following allegations that they are violating norms.
Senior officials visited the city in September last year to inspect the schools after which a showcause notice was slapped on Mango-based Govind Vidyalay in January seeking an explanation as to how students of non-affiliated institutions were being registered for the 2004 CBSE examination. The inspection was prompted by complaints from certain quarters.
Joint secretary of CBSE, New Delhi, Surya Prakash Sheth, who led the team, visited Govind Vidyalay to verify the complaint. He also collected information about some other schools in the Baridih area. Sources in the board said the authorities were likely to de-affiliate some schools after the probe.
Section 7.2 of Chapter 3 of the CBSE examination bylaws says, “Admission to Class IX in a school will be open only to students who have passed the Class VIII examination from an institute affiliated to CBSE or to any recognised board or is recognised by the education department of the government of the state or the Union Territory, where the institute is located.”
But sources said some CBSE schools were allowing students from non-affiliated institutions to appear for the Class X examination by “misleading” the board into believing that they were studying in their schools. Sources alleged that the non-affiliated institutes paid hefty sums to the affiliated schools.
Last year, CBSE de-affiliated Namkum-based Cambridge School on the outskirts of Ranchi, along with seven other schools in Patna, because they did not adhere to norms. “We de-recognised Cambridge School in Ranchi and seven schools in Patna for commercialising their institutions. This time, a section of school management in the steel city will face the heat for violating norms,” said secretary, CBSE, G. Balasubramanium.
According to him, the board conducts inquiries whenever it gets specific complaints against any school.
“In Jamshedpur, we decided to probe Govind Vidyalay after receiving complaints. Another school — the Netaji Subhas Public School of Baridih — is also on our list. The Baridih School, reportedly one of the smallest in the steel city, has the largest number of candidates appearing for CBSE examination this year. We suspect that many candidates are from non-affiliated schools and not are regular students,” the CBSE secretary said.
Netaji Subhash Public School secretary M.N. Singh confirmed that 176 students have been registered with the board for the secondary examination.
Govind Vidyalay secretary, B.D. Sharma said a team from CBSE’s Delhi office had inspected the school.
“Sixty-four regular students are appearing for the secondary examination this year,” Sharma said, adding that though the inquiry was still on, the CBSE team was satisfied with the findings. He, however, admitted that 59 Class VIII students from Kerala Public School, (KPS) in Burmamines, had taken admission in Govind Vidyalay in May 2002 as KPS was yet to get CBSE affiliation.
“The students appeared in the annual examination of Class VIII and were promoted to Class IX. In July, 2003, they got themselves registered with CBSE to appear for the 2004 secondary examination from our school as they were our students. Bu after their registration, they quit,” Sharma said.
Chairman of KPS Trust K.P.R. Nair corroborated it.A senior teacher of an English medium school in Burmamines said 26 students from her school are also appearing for CBSE from Govind Vidyalay this year. Each student had to pay a registration fee of Rs 3,200 to the board and Rs 400 as tuition fee to Govan Vidyalay after admission to Class IX. “Though these students are technically students of Govind Vidyalay, they are being taught by us here,’’ she said.
