State Board Kids Are Pushed To CBSE Due To Frequent Education Policy Changes

The frequent reversal of education policies by the state government is among another reason like the introduction of NEET, which is driving state board (Samacheer Kalvi syllabus) children to schools affiliated to other boards, primarily CBSE.

Latest to be in the list is the contradictory stance adopted by, school education minister, and officials over the conduct of board exams for Vth and VIIIth standard students. While various circulars are released by officials who are responsible for the framing of guidelines for the exams on the basis of the decision of the center, the minister said there will be no exam this year. He reiterated on Thursday that the state cabinet is yet to take a call on this.

This proposal, however, has attracted criticism from many quarters, including opposition leader M K Stalin, who argued that this will put young minds under immense stress.

On inquiring with CBSE schools in the city and other parts of the state, it was found that there has been a surge in the number of parents seeking admissions across grades.

S Arumainathan from TN Students’ Parents Welfare Association said that the confusion over policies has put parents of students who are in state board under continuous stress. He said that there was always an uncertainty when it came to board exams for XIth class, question pattern for XIIth class, rationalization of syllabus after complaints that it is voluminous, weekend NEET classes, and now class Vth and class VIIIth board exams. Parents want their children to study in a peaceful environment. The government, by making all these changes, is indirectly providing support to privatizing education.

Parents, who wish to put their children in different schools, generally initiate inquiring about fees, seats and other facilities from the first week of February so they will be able to submit application forms on time. Admissions to sought-after schools are finished by March on a first-cum-first-serve basis and the applications which are submitted after annual exams results are out are put on a waiting list, said P Kannan from Nandambakkam. He also said that to avoid this, they have already applied for admission to two CBSE schools this week.

By: Preeti Narula

Content: https://m.timesofindia.com/city/chennai/frequent-edu-policy-changes-push-state-board-kids-to-cbse/amp_articleshow/68103247.cms