The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) after introducing a slew of reforms is now likely to shift its focus on improving quality. One step seems to hint towards Accreditation of all ts affiliated schools. The board is considering an accreditation framework for its affiliated schools with enhanced focus on academics than on “fancy” buildings. The drive is aimed towards finding improving the quality standards of the academics which has seen a definitive dip over the last few years. Reintroducing the Board Examination in Class 10 are also linked.
The board has also approached the Quality Council of India, an autonomous body set up to establish and operate national accreditation structure, in this regard.
“CBSE has asked QCI to draft an approach paper to grade schools with more weightage to criterion like academic performance and learning outcomes, and reduce weightage to fancy infrastructure,” an official said.
However, this is not the first time that CBSE is trying its hands at an accreditation framework.
In 2012, the board had launched the School Quality Assessment and Accreditation, under which 12 agencies were roped in to inspect and rate CBSE schools. However, the project was junked later.
“Unlike popular magazines, this will not involve ranking institutions, but rather, will establish a level of acceptable quality for all accredited schools while respecting the unique missions of the institutions involved.
“The standards applied for accreditation will be qualitative and can be adapted and applied to any of the types of educational institutions affiliated. The awarding of accreditation will signify that the school has met standards at an acceptable level and is willing to both maintain those standards and to improve in areas pointed out to them,” the official added.