Bengaluru: The Department of School Education and Literacy (DSEL) has issued notices to around 700 managements, which were affiliated to the State Board, but had allegedly made claims to be running “Central Board schools” illegally. Over 600 of them are in Bengaluru.
This follows protests by parents of children studying in some branches of Orchids The International Schools, over the alleged misleading claim that they were running a Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)-affiliated school, while they were affiliated to the State Board.
The department has formed a three-member committee, headed by Block Education Officers (BEOs) in every taluk, to check the schools’ affiliation and other issues in their jurisdiction. There are also several cases where schools are being run illegally without affiliation to any of the boards, sources said.
“If any unregistered private schools are running, we need to close them. But if the schools have been registered, but are affiliated to one board and are claiming that they are affiliated to another, and are teaching that syllabus, we will have to take action according to the Karnataka Education Act,” said Vishal R., Commissioner for the Department of Public Instruction.
Many private schools in Karnataka, those affiliated with the State board, are illegally running schools claiming to be affiliated with either the CBSE or the Indian Certificate Secondary Education (ICSE), cheating the department and parents.
The majority of these institutions bought State board textbooks from the Karnataka Textbooks Society to recycle them solely after use.
The schools’ claims were exposed after the State government decided to hold public exams for Classes V and VIII, forcing these schools teaching the Central syllabus Public exam for Class V and VIIIs to distribute State board textbooks and start teaching students to prepare them for the exams.
While this triggered protests by parents of Orchids The International School, several hundred schools are indulging in the same, it now turns out.
P. Bylanjanappa, DDPI, Bengaluru South, said the three-member committee has issued schools a questionnaire with 50 questions that ask them for details about their affiliation, and children safety measures, among other issues in the notice. Based on their reply, further action will be taken, he added.
The Department of School Education and Literacy has issued a notice to the M.S. Dhoni Global School, at Kudlu Gate, Bengaluru, for operating without any affiliationNotice to M.S. Dhoni Global School to any board. Former cricket Mahendra Singh Dhoni is listed as a mentor.
“The M.S. Dhoni Global School started classes the for the academic year 2021-22, but unauthorisedly. It was only a week ago that the school got a no-objection certificate from the State government. This school has never been affiliated with either the State board or any of the Central boards and hence is running illegally. Therefore, we issued a notice to the school management concerned,” said P. Bylanjanappa, DDPI, Bengaluru South.