Bengaluru: A day after state government announced that all schools that have obtained CBSE/ICSE affiliation without a Non Objection Certificate (NoC) from the state government must apply for the NoC immediately. Failing this, they will be considered as state syllabus schools.
The move has sent shockwaves amongst students and the parent fraternity. The government’s decision, they feel, will create a lot of problems for them and will amount to an attack on the autonomy of central board schools.
It all started back in 2013 when the UPA government making NoCs from the state governments optional for CBSE and ICSE affiliations. As per the decision, CBSE and ICSE boards were allowed to grant affiliations even to schools that didn’t have the certificate.
“A major reason for this decision was that at the state government level, schools were forced to run from pillar to post to get the NoC, which subsequently resulted in rampant corruption. To bring down the corruption, it was decided to make NoC optional. But it is sad that state government now wants to make NoC compulsory,” said an officer.
No preparation: According to sources in the state government, the education department has decided to declare the NoC compulsory without making prior arrangements to ensure that schools don’t face any problems during the application process. “One of the reasons mentioned by the state education department is that it wants to have control on non- state syllabus schools as they are violating safety norms and state education rules openly. The trouble is this move will also lead to corruption,’ said an officer.
Parents, students anxious: Many parents feel that state government’s threat to convert CBSE/ICSE institutes into state syllabus schools is against the spirit of the constitution. “Every parent has the right to decide on a syllabus for his or her child. Now, the state government is threatening schools, which are engaged in imparting education. In this era of globalization state government must implement flexible rules and regulations instead of imposing outdated rules,” parent Mr. Ranganath Patel, a resident of Vijayanagar.
