Why schools prefer other Boards over JKBOSE?

Over the last two years, there have been several reports about some schools switching affiliations from JKBOSE to other Boards in the country. It has been reported that several schools have changed their affiliations and have adopted either the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) or have opted for Cambridge curriculum.

In legal and administrative terms there is nothing wrong for a school to shift from one Board to another, or change the curriculum, but when it becomes a trend, it raises some questions. These questions are not as much about the schools that opt for other Boards as it is about the JKBOSE, J&K's own board of school education.

The apprehension of the parents on this count may not capture the entire picture. The basic issue that needs to be addressed is why the private schools are now preferring CBSE or Cambridge over JK Board of School Education (JKBOSE). While in a particular case parents raised alarm over this switching of affiliations, or change of curriculum, there has been no word from the government regarding the issue.

In fact the issue came to limelight for some other reason. It was when a school prescribed the textbooks which cost more than what was expected by the parents. So, parents raised hue and cry  over the selection of textbooks that they found were priced too high.

While some schools have already shifted their affiliations, several files from other schools are under process either at the Directorate of School Education or with the administrative department.

Going by the sequence of events, the increase in the number of schools switching affiliations was seen soon after the J&K government issued strict orders for the non-government schools to adopt JKBOSE prescribed textbooks and were warned of de-recognition in case of any non-compliance.

Earlier, during the first interaction of the J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah with the civil society, the President Private Schools Association J&K (PSAJK) raised the issues faced by the non-government schools. He listed many issues and one of them was getting NoCs from different departments to renew or extend the JKBOSE affiliation of the schools. During his interaction, G N Var said as per the Act only three NoCs were to be produced but the department has prepared a checklist in which 19 to 21 NOCs are to be submitted. It includes the political non involvement certificate to be submitted by the schools at the time of renewal of their affiliation.

The government is asking for all these NoCs from the non-government schools at a time when the majority of the government schools are in shambles and do not have any safety measures in place. Instead of asking the private schools for all these NoCs, the government should first set its own schools in order and make them attractive, provide adequate facilities and infrastructure so that the parents don't remain dependent only on private schools.

In normal circumstances switching affiliation by a school is not an issue. But there are two underlying issues that need attention. One, the price of books suggested by any school, and more importantly, what the non-government schools say getting rid of  "unnecessary harassment" by the government.  The trend will have a long lasting impact on the very existence of the JK Board. Why can't the JKBOSE bring ease-of-business in its functioning, drop this insistence on a big basket of avoidable NoCs, and work in a collaborative manner with other stakeholders.

The point here is not the commercialization of education by the schools because the government has constituted  the fee fixation committee to take care of that. The committee has its set procedures to look into such issues. The concerned government departments should address the root cause of this trend of shifting to other boards. To begin with, the government should seriously review the content of the textbooks prescribed  by the JKBOSE besides taking a review of an over a dozen prescribed NoCs. If the situation continues to remain like this, there are apprehensions that JKBOSE loses all its significance.

The government should seriously think about the basic issue before it is too late for them to realise the consequences of the new trend. The Board and the Directorate should look inwards rather than each time accusing the schools for not fulfilling some criteria. Hope good sense prevails.