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CBSE may allow its schools to adopt other boards too
According to CBSE affiliation by-laws 2018, a school affiliated with the board “is not allowed to have dual affiliation” i.e simultaneous affiliation with two boards “with the same set of infrastructure and land”.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is considering allowing affiliated schools to also be affiliated with other boards of education in the same campus, in an attempt to benefit students as well as schools, officials familiar with the matter said.
Under the current by-laws of CBSE, schools affiliated with it cannot have any other affiliations in the same campus.
If implemented, this means CBSE schools will be able to offer more options to students. The Council for The Indian School Certificate Examiniations or CISCE already allows this, with some popular CISCE affiliated schools offering popular IB (International Baccalaureate) or the International General Certificate of Secondary Education options.
A proposal to the effect was presented during a meeting held on June 30, the officials cited in the first instance said on condition of anonymity. One official who attended the meeting, said: “It has been proposed that the schools will have to take a no-objection certificate from CBSE for obtaining the affiliation from other education boards in addition to their existing affiliation with CBSE.”
Another official, who also attended the meeting, added: “If implemented, separate faculty for teaching students from different boards will be arranged by the schools. The management and the principal can be common for the students enrolled under multiple boards.”
CBSE is yet to release any official notification in this regard.
According to CBSE affiliation by-laws 2018, a school affiliated with the board “is not allowed to have dual affiliation” i.e simultaneous affiliation with two boards “with the same set of infrastructure and land”. This effectively rules out doing this on the same campus -- and schools that wish to do so need to invest in a completely different campus.
The principals of several CBSE schools in Delhi said that having dual affiliation would be an “advantage”. Jyoti Arora, principal of Mount Abu Public School, said: “With two education boards allowed in one school, students and staff can benefit from shared learnings, collaborative practices, and professional development. Also, it will create more opportunities and options for students and parents. Schools and stakeholders will ultimately benefit from knowledge and innovation spillover.”
Terming the idea of having multiple boards “exciting”, Tania Joshi, principal of The Indian School, said: “However, it is yet to see how practical it would be for a school to have multiple boards. If the staff, students, and administration would be able to adjust… But it will help students who switch between the boards after class 10. They will not have to change their school if it offers more than one board.”
The move may be crucial for public schools in the Capital since the Delhi government is soon going to launch its own education board. However, several principals of government schools said it may also create confusion. Awadhesh Kumar Jha, school head of the Sarvodaya Co-ed Vidyalaya in Rohini’s Sector 8, said: “It will definitely give more opportunities to students but managing it will be a big challenge for schools.”
CBSE secretary Anurag Tripathi did not respond to requests for comment.
A senior CBSE official who asked not to be named, said the idea was floated after requests from schools across the country. “We are yet to discuss several aspects and all the pros and cons before implementing this. The discussion around it has been started,” the official said.
