CBSE managements call for inclusive attitude from State govt

Thiruvananthapuram: The State government should adopt an inclusive attitude towards stakeholders of CBSE schools while taking decisions and framing policies related to education, senior administrators of the Kerala CBSE School Managements Association said Tuesday.

While unaided schools are unable to pay the wages fixed by the state government, for aided schools, the Association is willing to meet the government to fix a new wage scale, they told a press conference here. "But imposing various taxes on the schools will only affect the standard of education," they said.

"The fact is CBSE schools across the state are tarred with the same brush." Earlier, a meeting of the Association, participated by 200 CBSE school delegates from across the state, was held here to discuss a host of issues ranging from salaries of teachers to fee structures, school transportation, making Malayalam compulsory and hosting a national youth festival. The association called for setting up of an education commission to study the states education standard, which has been witnessing a decline in the last decade.

"The state government will be made aware that the fee structures vary in rural and urban areas and there is no blanket high fee structure across the state," Association General Secretary Indira Rajan told reporters. There should be at least 185 school working days in the year. While in the past couple of years, the CBSE adopted a lenient academic pattern, it has now become tougher with a schedule of about 200 working days, particularly in classes 9 and 10, she said. "The Kerala State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights must consider this while taking decisions about school days," she said.

While the CBSE guidelines call for speed governors with 40 km for school buses, the circular also notes that it can vary, depending on the conditions of a particular road and in agreement with the state government. "The Association has been in touch with Transport Minister Thomas Chandy to increase the speed limit to 50 km in the coming academic year," the office-bearers said.

The CBSE schools in Kerala teach Malayalam till class 8, while the state government has now made it compulsory till class 10, they said. "The central nature of the CBSE syllabus makes this difficult and we want the government to take a lenient position towards class 9 and 10 students, particularly with students transferring into and out of the state," they said. CBSE schools are increasingly being controlled by state governments; this is not suitable for its national character, they claimed. The Association members said preliminary steps have been taken towards including CBSE school students in the NCC, Scouts and Guides, and the Keralas unique Student Police Cadet programmes.

The Association would meet HRD ministry representatives to discuss hosting a state-level youth festival for CBSE schools in the 2017-18 academic year, in which district-level winners will compete at the state level and go on to contest on a national level. Kerala CBSE School Management Association Working President G Rajmohan and President Adv T P M Ibrahim Khan were also present.