Manash Pratim Gohain, Times of India Jul 23, 2012, 01.26AM IST
NEW DELHI: Come September and all CBSE schools will have to undergo mandatory accreditation. And going by the results of the pilot run conducted by the Board, the process is not going to be a cakewalk. Just one of the 42 schools assessed in February-March managed to pass the review. CBSE has shortlisted 12 agencies for the next round of the pilot run and given them a month to assess 54 schools before actual evaluation begins in September.
The 12 empanelled agencies that will conduct CBSE School Quality Assessment and Accreditation (SQAA) include ACE Edutrend, Noida, Education Quality Foundation of India, New Delhi, Academy For Global Education Services, Mulund, and CFBT Education Service, Hyderabad. The 54 volunteering schools include 31 schools from the Chennai region and 12 from the Delhi region.
"While CBSE gives affiliation to schools on the basis of availability of infrastructure, the accreditation is meant to evaluate how that infrastructure and resources are being used for sustained qualitative enhancement. Schools will be judged on seven parameters — scholastic processes, co-scholastic processes, infrastructure, human resource, management and administration, leadership and beneficiary satisfaction. Schools should at least get 50% marks in each arena and an overall of 75% to clear the process," said the CBSE official.
The seven parameters are divided into 250 sub-domains such as life skills, value systems, attitude, work education, visual and performing arts, co-scholastic activities, health and physical activities, health cards, classrooms, library, laboratory, computer labs and ICT facilities, playground, transportation facilities, girls' rest rooms, infirmary, water and sanitation and health management facilities.
All schools have to apply for accreditation within three years. In case any school fails in the assessment, it can reapply within five years. But if it fails twice consecutively, it will lose CBSE affiliation. Also, this isn't a one-time exercise as schools will have to get accredited every three years. "At the end of the assessment, schools will receive a report highlighting areas where they need to improve," said the official.
CBSE has 13,018 schools under its fold and this will be the largest accreditation process to be undertaken. The aim is not to rank schools, but provide quality benchmarks in the concept, establishment and running of effective systems.
Courtesy: Ravi Kaimal