After the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) decided to stop inspection of physical infrastructural facilities in affiliation-seeking schools, the fear of a large number of private schools lacking in proper infrastructural facilities is running high in the Northeast.
The CBSE has modified its affiliation rules and decided to depend on the inspection conducted by district administration officials.
CBSE had conducted an inspection of an affiliation seeking school of Assam only after the inspection of its physical infrastructure by district officials and issuance of a no-objection certificate to the school by the State Government.
In order to acquire the CBSE affiliation, a school must own a minimum area of land as per its location and the region it stands in.
The school premises must have ample open space for students to play apart from having school buildings. A school located in a city having a population over 25 lakhs should have a minimum land area of 1 acre and for a school in a city having a population less 5 lakhs , it should have a minimum land area of 2 acres.
For a school seeking affiliation from CBSE, it should generally have classrooms, staff rooms and office rooms with ample space and suitable furniture like chairs, tables, cupboards, blackboards, lecture strands etc and also facilities like playgrounds, stage and suitable games for extracurricular activities.
According to the modern affiliation rules, CBSE will now only assess the academic results of the affiliation seeking schools and a team from the national education board will visit the required school to see whether it has enough teachers, whether the teachers are adequately trained, and whether the quality of teaching is up to the mark.
A principal of a leading Guwahati school, who refused to be named said, “A large number of private schools have already been set up particularly in Assam without creating the basic minimum necessary physical infrastructures for quality education and overall well being of students. Many of the existing CBSE schools do not have their own land and functioning at rented accommodation. Think what will happen in case the CBSE stops inspecting these schools and the schools that are queue to apply for affiliation.”