Schools to find it tougher to get CBSE affiliation, Digital India push likely

The Central Board of Secondary Education is likely to get tougher in giving affiliation to schools.

The Central Board of Secondary Education is likely to get tougher in giving affiliation to schools.

Students from Class 9 onwards will soon be able to access supplementary reading material on CBSE website free of cost. (Saumya Khandelwal/HTFILE)

The CBSE has made a committee to suggest changes to its existing affiliation bylaws to address the changes in the education system.

The education board has about 18,000 schools affiliated to it and receives about 3,500 applications every year for affiliation.

“The affiliation and exam bylaws were made years ago but the education sector has seen many changes. We do get reports about violation and there is a view that we should get more teeth,” said CBSE chairperson Rajesh Kumar Chaturvedi.

The committee on affiliation bylaws will, “recommend appropriate, punitive and compliance provision so that violation of affiliation bylaws becomes difficult and actions deterrent”.

Digital India push

Chaturvedi said that CBSE is taking many steps to make all its services available online.

To help students locate their centres for board exams as well as various competitive exams conducted by CBSE, it will put up information on its website.

The chairperson said that all schools affiliated with CBSE have been asked to upload basic information such as number of teachers, classrooms, playground and phone numbers on school’s website.

“This is a step in making everything digital,” he said.

Online content

Students from Class 9 onwards will soon be able to access supplementary reading material on CBSE website free of cost.

Chaturvedi said students will be provided latest content, graphics and videos to understand their courses better. The board has asked some agencies to develop content as per CBSE syllabus.

“The reading material will be developed by agencies specialising in making Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) to give students additional academic support. These materials will be focused on students from Class 9, 10, 11, 12,” he said.

Verification

Every year CBSE sends a CD with details of all the students who have completed Class 12 to Delhi University so that the university can cross-check the details of students who apply to colleges. University officials say it is difficult to cross-check the documents.

But soon, DU and other institutes of higher learning will be able to request CBSE for verification of certificates and get a reply online.

“All certificates and mark-sheets are in a digital locker provided by CBSE to each student. After verification, even the student will be sent a text that their verification has been done,” Chaturvedi said.

Easing out data entry

Chaturvedi said that often schools fill wrong spelling and date of birth in the application forms for students. But now the board will allow students to take a printout of the form and get it filled by their parents.