Going Over-board?

The Delhi government’s move to have a new Board and to de-affiliate its schools from the internationally reputed CBSE is hard to justify. It will involve additional and avoidable costs too

- Devender Singh Aswal

THE iconoclastic Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has announced that a set of Delhi government schools will be de-affiliated from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and affiliated to a New Delhi Board of School Education in the upcoming 2021-2022 academic year. There are over 1,000 schools run by the Delhi government, all affiliated to the CBSE. While presenting the 2020 annual budget for Delhi, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had announced that the government was setting aside Rs 62 crore to set up a separate state board of education. What is the rationale or what benefits will accrue by setting up a Delhi Board of Education is a question of speculation and shrouded in mystery as no rationale has been spelt out.

It would be pertinent to recall that the Delhi Board of Higher Secondary Education was set up by a resolution on November 26, 1942, and dissolved from July 1, 1962. Delhi schools were affiliated to the CBSE from the same date, says a notification of the Delhi Administration dated June 30, 1962.

Set up in 1929, the CBSE has grown into a prestigious autonomous national-level board of education in India for public and private schools. From 309 schools in 1962, today the CBSE has 25,185 schools, including 228 schools in 25 foreign countries. All schools affiliated to the CBSE follow the National Council of Educational Research (NCERT) curriculum.

The genesis of CBSE may be traced back to the colonial era when the British set up the first school Board in 1921. The Sadler Commission, also known as the Calcutta University Commission, report of 1917-19, led to the formation of various Boards of Secondary Education in many parts of India.