Govt asks CBSE to start posting certificates online

Apilot project under India’s plan to digitize all educational certificates and make them available online is expected to take off before the current academic year ends in March.

The human resource development (HRD) ministry has asked the Central Board of Secondary of Education (CBSE) to start the pilot by creating digital copies of newly-issued school certificates.

Eventually, new and old certificates of all school boards, colleges and universities will be digitized and fed into a repository that would be accessible for a nominal fee.

The ministry expects this will make it easier for employers and educational institutes to verify the credentials of prospective workers and students, besides ridding the fear of school and college graduates losing their physical certificates.

“From higher studies to employment, education credential check is an important part. Now, the process is tedious, time-consuming and not foolproof... Once completed, this (digitization) will make life easier for students, academicians, education administrators and employers,” said a ministry official, requesting anonymity.

“After nearly a year-long deliberation, we have asked CBSE to carry out a pilot. After school boards, it will be implemented by universities and other higher educational institutions,” the official added. CBSE is controlled by the HRD ministry.

The ministry floated the idea in January, but decided to discuss it with all stakeholders before moving ahead. Earlier this month, the CBSE was asked to launch the pilot, said another HRD official, asking not to be named.CBSE is likely to start the pilot in Delhi, one of five administrative zones into which it has divided the country—the others being Guwahati, Allahabad, Ajmer and Chennai. Around 1.7 million students give CBSE’s class X and XII examinations every year.

The second official said that under the project, all educational certificates will be available in virtual form, just like shares and securities of stock exchanges, in the national database. When someone applies for a job, the company can request the database manager to verify the credentials of the applicant by paying a small fee.The system would ensure security and authenticity of information. In case of theft or loss of physical certificates, people can get a duplicate copy easily, without having to make rounds of their school or university.

Piyush Mehta, senior vice-president, global-human resources, at India’s largest business process outsourcing firm (BPO) Genpact, said the online repository of digital certificates will help companies such as his own save time and money.

“Though it has gone down over time, still 5-10% of the people recruited submit fake documents,” he said. Mehta added that an industry of verification agencies has cropped up, which can be done away with.

CRP HR Services, a background screening firm based in Mumbai, said a number of resumes checked by it has false information. “Overall, the discrepancies are in 15% of the cases. The discrepancies include education credentials, employment details, and salary last drawn, etc.,” said Nipa Modi, chief executive officer.

“The trend of false information in resumes increases when job scenario is generally good. IT (information technology), BPO, banking and hospitality industries are now going for such screening largely, but BPO industry is the segment where we get more red flags,” she added.While welcoming the government initiative, Modi added: “We don’t see that this effort will affect our business as the opportunity is huge.”

India’s largest depositories, the Central Depository Services (India) Ltd (CDSL) and the National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) are vying to win the project, said the second HRD ministry official cited above.A CDSL official declined comment. NSDL could not be immediately reached.

The depository that wins the contract will manage the database on its own, but will appoint an IT firm to build applications for verification, among other things.

“The depositories are likely to evaluate the cloud-based model for it, as it will enable online authentication,” said an official of a large IT firm who is aware of the project, asking not to be identified.

The cloud-based model is Internet-based computing, in which data and other resources are provided by shared servers to computers and other devices on demand.

IT lobby group Nasscom set up the National Skills Registry (NSR) in 2006 as a database of IT professionals with a similar idea. A total of 590,000 professionals and 83 companies, which account for 70% of total workforce employed by IT/IT enabled services sector, were registered with NSR, as of February.

Ganesh Natarajan, former chairman of Nasscom and global chief executive of Zensar Technologies Ltd, said even NSR takes two-three weeks for authentication, which the HRD ministry’s project could do almost instantly.“There will be nothing like a single computerized database with all the information, it will solve many issues of the industry,” he said.

All schools to have websites by Mar 31

Now schools have websites

In line with directions of the Central Board of Secondary Education ( CBSE) to bring transparency in the working of private schools and enable the parents to keep a tab on the performance of their children, most city schools are busy setting up their websites. CBSE had asked all private schools to launch their website by March 31.

The schools had been directed to upload the fee records and report cards of students so that their guardians can check these.

The school websites will enable parents to know what delegates in Continuing and Comprehensive Education ( CCE ) have discussed. Apart from this, it will bring about transparency in the working of private schools, including the admission process.

The websites are also supposed to have details of CBSE guidelines, numbers of teachers appointed, the average number of students, details of the fee structure, courses taught, contact numbers of the school administrators, infrastructure, salaries of teachers, names of the students, phone number of parents and their email IDs.

Principal of BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary School, Shastri Nagar, Paramjit Kaur said it is not possible to mention the grades of the students on the website, adding that most of the other directions are already being followed by schools. TOI

No Boards hurdle, students prepare half of syllabus, aim for grades

Extended to Class X from this year, CCE has students studying for exams throughout the year instead of annual Boards

DHRUV Sharma, a Class X student of a school in Southwest Delhi, is preparing for his “term-ending” examination in March next year. Unlike earlier batches of Class X students who had to prepare for the entire syllabus for their Board exams, Dhruv is preparing for only half of the syllabus in all subjects.

Like Dhruv, thousands of Class X students across the Capital are upbeat about the upcoming exams, thanks to the reduced syllabus. This is the first batch of Class X students who were evaluated by the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) Scheme, introduced by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) last year in Class IX and later extended to Class X.

“For the upcoming exams, the pressure to score high marks is not there, and the syllabus is half,” says Dhruv, student of Bal Bharati Public School, Dwarka. “But I had to study consistently through the year.”

Under the CCE Scheme, an academic year is divided into two terms — each has two formative assessments and a term-ending summative assessment (FA1, FA2 and SA1 in the first term, and FA3, FA4 and SA2 in the second term). Students are thus evaluated throughout the year.

The CCE also mandates that students be graded in all subjects. Says Akshita Khetrapal, a Class X student appearing for FA4 at her school in Dwarka, “Grades have made it easier. The stress is lower.”

Last year, while Class X students were awarded grades and grade points in each subject, they had to prepare for the whole syllabus. This year is different, and the students and their parents are more relaxed.

Says Mohini Bindra, principal of Ramjas School Pusa Road, “Class X students never participated in annual day functions earlier, but things have changed. This year, the whole class participated.” That might, however, have more to do with the fact that students are being graded not only in subjects, but also in co-scholastic areas — life skills, attitude toward teachers and schoolmates, and participation in school programmes and other activities. For the FAs, students were also given projects in different subjects throughout the year.

D K Bedi, principal of Apeejay School, Pitampura, says, “By December-end, parents of Class X students used to put a lot of pressure on them. That is gone now. Students are more relaxed.” He adds, “Also, since students have already appeared for FA3 in their second term and are left with FA4 and SA2, there is a lot less to prepare for.”

Usha Ram, principal of Laxman Public School, Hauz Khas, says, “Students are less burdened this time round. But we will hold a small pre-test before SA2 in our school so that students do not take their studies lightly.”

Some students, however, feel the earlier pattern was better. “I got the chance to revise the entire syllabus and brush up the topics I was weak in,” says Akshita. “Trigonometry, for example, was in our first term, in which I did not do well. It is included in the syllabi of Classes XI and XII. I wanted to revise the subject before going to Class XI. But now I don’t have that chance.”

Grades

The report card has three sections

Scholastic Areas: Divided into two parts — 1A (subjects) and 1B (work experience, art education, physical and health education.

* Scores in 1A are awarded on a nine-point scale.

* Students getting 91-100 per cent in a subject are awarded A1 grade and a grade point of 10.

* Students getting 81-90 per cent get A1 and a grade point of 9.

* Student getting 71-80 per cent get B1 and a grade point of 8.

Co-scholastic areas

Divided into 2A and 2B

Comprise

A: Life Skills: Thinking skills; social skills; emotional skills

B: Attitudes and Values: Towards teachers; schoolmates; school programmes; environment value systems

Co-Scholastic activities

3A and 3B. Any activity (like literary skills, music; Physical and Health Education.

Comprise:

Literary and creative skills; scientific skills; aesthetic and performing skills; clubs (eco clubs, health and wellness and others)

* Students also get a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) at the end of the academic year. They can calculate their approximate percentage in a subject by multiplying the grade point scored in that subject with a factor of 9.5.

No failures

The practice of declaring compartment/fail has been discontinued. Candidates who obtain qualifying grades (D and above) in all subjects, excluding the additional subject, has to be given a qualifying certificate. Candidates who obtain grade E1 or E2 in a subject are told to improve their performance through five subsequent attempts. Those who do not get qualifying grades in all subjects, excluding the additional subject, are not permitted to continue to Class XI.IE

CBSE set to scrap Class 12 exam

class 12th exams

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is continuing with its efforts to ease the burden of exams on its students.After having made Class X exams optional, the board now aims at scrapping the Class XII board exams.

At the recently concluded 17th National Annual Conference of Sahodaya School Complexes 2010 held in Bangalore, CBSE chairman Vineet Joshi hinted that Class XII board exams would also be made optional in the near future.

Sources at CBSE said that the Class XII board exam is likely to become optional from 2013 onwards. The board’s latest initiative to do-away with Class XII board exam is part of its ongoing education reform, under the guidance of ministry of human resource development (MHRD).

Joshi also said that the continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE) scheme, currently applicable for students of Classes VI to X, would soon be extended to Class XI and XII.

The CCE scheme was introduced in 2009 in order to encourage a holistic assessment of students, including in co-scholastic areas of life skills, attitudes and values, sports and games, as well as co-curricular activities. One of the highlights of the CCE scheme is that there will be no bo

ard examination for Class 10 from 2011 for students in CBSE schools, and who do not wish to move out of the CBSE system after Class X.

In fact, in its maiden year when CBSE gave an option for students to opt out of board exams, 2/3rd of them had opted out of board exam. According to the sources, about five lakh students from senior secondary schools have opted out of the Class X board examinations that will be conducted in March 2011.

The total number of students studying in the Class X in schools affiliated to the CBSE across India is 8,23,125.

In order to make the CCE scheme successful, Joshi emphasised proper training of teachers. “The board is closely working with its various schools and teachers to make the CCE successful. The board is stressing the need to develop better coordination among the teachers in order to implement CCE,” added Joshi.

From 2009, the board has been conducting regular teachers’ training programmes on CCE, across the country. Joshi also stressed the need to empower teachers to make all the reforms introduced by CBSE successful. The CBSE has already started conducting special induction programmes to train principals of schools across the country.

Joshi said that the board was working with private companies to build a curriculum to empower teachers.

CBSE is the first among the 41 boards in the country to take bold steps like making Class X exams optional for students and introducing CCE, where students will be assessed throughout the year in various scholastic and co-scholastic activities.

About 11,550 schools in India are affiliated to the board, which alsohas 153 affiliated schools in 23 foreign countries.DNA

CBSE to make digital classrooms compulsory

 The Central Board of Secondary Education has issued a directive to all affiliated schools to set up digital classrooms from primary to secondary level. Till recently, such classrooms were a boon to some schools but now they will become a part of every institution. 

In the last decade, classrooms with projector and computer had attracted a large number of parents who were eager to have latest teaching technology in schools. "Schools like Mayo College, MGD of Jaipur and others adopted the new technology to keep pace with the time and that helped them improve their results," said a retired principal of a private school. Slowly, other schools also adopted this technology but now it will become a feature of all the CBSE schools. More interestingly, setting up of digital classrooms will not be limited to science or mathematics classes but for every subject.

The board issued a directive to all school principals saying that after CCE evaluation system, the school should have digital classrooms. "The HRD ministry has announced 2010-20 as decade of reasoning and critical thinking and the board is implementing information and communication technology (ICT) in schools to get the maximum output," said Vineet Joshi, chairman of CBSE in his letter to schools.

Now, as per the board, every student of primary level should know how to handle computer and internet and student of middle classes should know how to gather information from internet and how to analyze it on computer through charts and diagram. Students of secondary and senior secondary should know how to make reports on given subject and information they get from internet. C should know about biochemistry, nanotechnology and other high level subjects. "The technology cannot turn bad teachers into good but it will help good teachers to become better," added Joshi.

According to the board, every digital classroom should have a projector with a big screen sufficient enough for the students to read without stress on eyes. The classrooms should have electronic interactive white board system. There should be a computer and UPS for every class. There should be a digital library for every subject. There will be an electronic response system in every class to calculate the period that is taken by students to understand the lesson and there will be a resource person who helps teachers in digital classrooms.

The state government has also started a drive to convert the classrooms of government schools to digital under Rashtriya Vishesh Madhiyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RVMSA) and the education department has asked school heads about their requirements. "The government school teachers are regularly getting training in computers in ET cell to set up system in their schools. Most of the senior and secondary level schools are having computer labs and internet facility," said Umesh Sharma, supervisor of government ET cell in Ajmer.TOI

CBSE plans multiple choice format for all papers

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has made multiple choice questions (MCQ’s) mandatory for all subjects for students of class nine appearing for exams in 2011-12.

With over 10,000 affiliated schools in the country, the board in a recent circular stated that while MCQs were limited to science till last year, this year they have been extended to all subjects like social studies, maths etc.

In 2009, the board had taken up an initiative to generate a sizeable bank of questions in each subject. Teachers had to submit the MCQs to the board online and the board with its experts evaluated them.

“The questions can be used by the teachers, students and paper setters. They can be used as question banks, which if properly designed and developed by expert teachers will be an excellent source of learning for students,” said Sujata Menon principal, New Horizon School, Panvel.

Educationists are happy with this development. “It is about time we move towards objective-type questions rather than the lengthy subjective style. Already, most of the entrance exams for professional degrees are entirely objective-type questions,” said Deepshikha Srivastava, principal of Rajhans Vidyalaya, Andheri.

According to her, developing MCQs will help teachers assess their way of teaching. MCQs test the concept of students and require to be framed in a certain way.

But the multiple choices given to a question need to be relatively ambiguous so as to increase the difficulty level.DNA

CBSE school heads to discuss, debate CCE at national conference

Several school heads from the city are among those dissecting the various facets of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) to better understand and implement it at the 17th annual conference of CBSE Sahodaya School Complexes. The event, which began in Bangalore on Monday and is scheduled to continue on Tuesday, is a meeting of representatives from school associations across the country.

Organised under the theme, Managing change for better learning', the conference will look at key issues such as school-based assessment, addressing resistance to change, teacher empowerment, embedding technology in the CCE environment and dimensions of co-scholastic skills.

"We are here because we see the conference as a good forum to discuss and debate the positives and negatives of CCE. We are also looking to get inputs on assessment since it is a new system. As principals, we need to equip our teachers with the know-how and come up with a good method to assess children," said Margrette David Raj, principal of Bhakthavatsalam Vidyashram and chairperson of the CBSE Chennai Sahodaya School Complexes. About 15 representatives from schools in the city are participating in the conference, she added.

 CBSE chairman Vineet Joshi and Sadhana Parashar, Head (Innovation and Research), CBSE, were also scheduled to attend the event.

Recognising the need to train greater focus on the issue of assessment, the CBSE is also organising an international conference on the subject in January 2011. Slated to be conducted in association with the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and Sahodaya School Complexes (Gurgaon Chapter), the conference will look to address the scope of assessment in teaching and learning. Union Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal will inaugurate the event.

The conference will deal with topics such as understanding best assessment practices, using assessment to monitor teacher effectiveness to encourage school improvement, developing a support system for using assessments in classroom and policy changes in the new educational framework for improved assessments. TOI

75% state CBSE students prefer board exams

About 75% of the state's class X CBSE students have registered to take the board exams to be held in March 2011. This is the first year that the CBSE board has made class X board exams optional to reduce stress among students. In Maharashtra, 15,948 students have registered to appear for the  board exams while 5,063 have opted for the school-conducted final exams. However, across India, 67% of the 11 lakh class X CBSE students have opted not to take the board exams, said CBSE chairman Vineet Joshi.

According to Joshi, a large number of students from previous years in Maharashtra have left the CBSE board after class X to join the state board junior colleges. This could explain why more students in the state have opted to take the board exams.

Even though Wednesday was the last day for students to choose between the exams, a board official said that students could make changes up to December 21. "The figures will hardly change between now and then," added the official.

Students taking the board exams and those taking the school final exams will get grades instead of marks

India's new hall of fame: CBSE texts

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is flooded with requests from various government departments, the military and para-military forces, and industry bodies suggesting the work they do be included as a lesson in the students' social science syllabus. All claim they want to 'inspire the young generation' by relating all that these agencies do and their 'contribution to nation building'.

But academics feel that if their requests were acceded to, the social science syllabus, already heavy, would become overburdened.

The CBSE has yet to take a call on any of these requests.

"There is pressure from organisations such as the Income Tax department, the Indian Air Force, Indian Navy and the Border Security Force, who have approached CBSE requesting their work be included in the syllabus," said a professor at the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), which drafts the country's school text books.

The army has requested human resource development minister Kapil Sibal to make 'the contribution of the armed forces to India' part of school curriculum.

"Incorporating fresh content into existing syllabi involves bringing out a new edition of the existing textbook and ensuring it reaches all students," said a senior CBSE official.

"It can only be done once in a few years."

After a recent request, a committee was formed which is working on making road safety part of the social science syllabus.

CBSE prescription: schools must tie up with hospitals

Here's another boost to the safety measures of your child when in school. In a student-friendly move, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has advised all its affiliated schools to have a tie up with a neighbouring hospital.

The circular dated October 18, 2010 and signed by chairman Vineet Joshi states: "There is a need to create medical care facilities and systems in schools and also have tie up with a nearby hospital within a radius of 2-4 km for any medical emergency.'' The move is part of creating a "safe, fearless and secure environment" which is a prime requirement of holistic education.

With an increasing aggressiveness among children of this generation, even the cases of casualties in schools have risen, authorities say.

"There will be around 8-10 small casualties every day. When compared to previous years, there is an increase in the number of cases from the classrooms. If it had been, say, five cases five years ago, it would be eight now. Students tend to imitate the scenes they watch in TV during the breaks," says Mansoor Ali Khan, trustee member, board of management, Delhi Public School.

Increase in physical fights and restlessness among children of classes three to six are noticeable, teachers say.

Asthma, stomach pain, fever and minor accidents like falls are the common incidents in schools. Many schools in the city already have their own in-house medical facilities with full-time doctors, nurses and first aid box (even in the school buses as students tend to get into fights even there). A few even have ambulances in case of emergencies.

Kumaran's Children's Home is planning to make it more `specialized'. They are planning to open a nebulising unit for students with breathing problems.

While some schools like Geetanjali Vidyalaya have the phone numbers of the students' paediatricians stored in the handbooks, others say they call the parents immediately as they will have objections to the hospitals they take the children to.

Some schools already have understandings with hospitals __ Army Public School with the army hospital and Gear Innovative International with VIMS. There are others who are finalizing the tie ups. "We are in the final process. Apart from emergency cases, they would conduct health check-ups, lectures and give tips on healthy living," says P S knot, New Horizon Gurukul.TOI

Separate board to soon promote vocational courses: Kapil Sibal

Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal today said that the government is looking at setting up a separate board on the lines of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to promote vocational education in the country.

The government also plans to set national vocational education framework by mid-2011, Sibal said, adding "this would help school students who are unable to complete higher education or the students who are not academically bright but have other skill sets."

He, however, did not provide any specific timeline as when the board would be created.

"We are planning to create a separate CBSE board for vocational education. The framework in this regard would be set up by mid next year. There will be a different curriculum for vocational education where students can choose the subjects depending on their interest from cooking to automobile engineering," Sibal said at a conference in Mumbai.

The proposed vocational training will begin at the school level and will be of 10 levels. Students from Class Eight onwards will be able to take up various vocational courses, like carpentry and para-medical, along with their regular courses till Class Twelve. This programme would also help mitigate the shortage of skilled personnel in the country, Sibal said.

He said it would help empower children through imparting skills and would thereby lead to an inclusive education, which is currently the "need of the hour."

"We have to strengthen education system in the country. We are all set to achieve the critical mass by 2020. For this we have to promote vocational education," Sibal said, adding that the universities should enable a seamless transition of these students from the senior secondary level to the undergraduate level.

Sibal said that the vocational education would help empower children through imparting skills and would thereby lead to an inclusive education, which is currently the need of the hour.

Citing data that about 220 million children go to school, however only 14 million reach college, Sibal said India was far behind the developed nations, where the percentage is pegged at round 80 as against the global average of 23%.

"We have to strengthen education system in the country. We are all set to achieve the critical mass by 2020. For this we have to promote vocational education," he said adding that the universities should enable a seamless transition of these students from the senior secondary level to the undergraduate level.

Hunger strike forces school to reduce fee hike

The management of Arya Gurukul at Kalyan agr-eed to reduce the fee hike after the parents of the students staged a hunger strike on Friday, protesting against the "sudden" rise in the middle of the year.

Irked by the school's decision to raise the fees by 42%, increasing the amount from Rs 11,400 annually to up to Rs 17,100 annually, the guardians of the students gathered outside the institute and started hunger strike. Finally, the school relented to increase the fees by 25% and not 42%.

Instead of raising the fees by 42%, the management has agreed to increase it by 25% only.

The battle between the parents and school management of Arya Gurukul at Kalyan ended on Friday afternoon after parents organised hunger strike since morning outside school which led both the parties to compromise over the fee hike. The school management agreed to reduce fee hike from 42 percentage to 25 percentage.After the school increased the fees from Rs 11,400 annually to up to Rs 17,100 ,

On Friday the parents of students of Arya Gurukul in Kalyan had organised hunger strike outside school to protest against the school's fee hike. Parents alleged that the school administration raised fees by 42 percentage that was Rs 11,400 last years and it was increased up to Rs 17,100.

After the demonstration began, The school authorities had to call in the police and the Quick Response Team , both of which deployed a large number of personnel at the site to ensure that the situation did not go out of control. A police pick-up vane was also stationed near the institute. During the course of the day, five representatives of the parents, along with local MLA Ganpat Gaikwad, met the management and after four hours of discussion, both the sides agreed that the rise should be kept at 25%.

A sizeable police bandobast including a police pick-up van and a quick response team was in place to ensure that the situation did not go out of control during protest.

One of the parents, J Nambiyar, told TOI, "The school decided to increase the fee in the middle of the year and the officials refused to talk to us." They had even started harassing students." over the issue."

Justifying the fee hike, school trustee Bharat Malik said, "For an unaided school, fees are the only source of income. We have to pay our teachers in the scale recommended by the Sixth Pay Commission. Moreover, maintaining the high standard, we provide all the additional facilities to students. So we were bound to hike the fees. For this year, it has been raised by 25%."

The next session's amount will be decided later."

Malik further said, "We have to pay our teachers as per the sixth pay commission this all increased our expense that is why we have agreed to only 25 percentage fee hike for this year while for the next year we will decide later"

Before organizing the protest parents had also approached the local Kolsewadi police but they had not taken any action against the schools management resulting parents had called hunger strike.

On Friday it was third agitation called by the parents against the fee hike by the school management after school came in to existence in Kalyan east area.

Parents alleged that, Arya Gurukul is the single CBSE school is situated in the Kalyan east area while in Kalyan west there are many CBSE schools, but due to long distance parents give preference to Arya Gurukul and that is why taking advantages of this school management every years increased their fee.
 

Private school fee structure facing hiccups

The private school fee structure issue has been facing hiccups right from inception. When the Tamil Nadu Schools (Regulation of Collection of Fee) Act 2009 came into force in July last year, it was seen as egalitarian measure. But almost immediately, it ran into roadblocks.

The need for a regulated fee structure arose after several parents associations protested the indiscriminate increase of fees by many private school managements.

The government then set the Justice Govindarajan panel, which fixed the fee structure for 10,930 schools in the State.

In Chennai, an association led by parents of students studying in both matriculation and CBSE schools spearheaded the protest for a reasonable fee structure. But when the Act came, it left the CBSE schools off the loop. Despite the law coming into force in July last, the fee structure was announced three months later, in October, after the State Platform for CSS sent a legal notice. The fee structure details put up on the government website included schools that had not given any information on the fee collected and had stated that schools should not collect any fees without prior permission from the committee. Yet, there has been no let up in the tussle between the government, private school managements and parents.

Though it is mandatory for schools to put up their fee structure on the notice boards, not many complied and managements continued to charge excessive fees. The managements then went to court while parents organised protests outside schools and lodged complaints. On July 26 this year, after much hue and cry over the fee structure by private school managements, the government blinked and the Justice Govindarajan panel started working on a new structure for over 6,000 schools that had sent objection letters. The revised structure would be applicable for schools for the next three years, and would be put up for public viewing, the government had stated. On September 14, the High Court stayed the operations of the Justice Govindarajan committee much to the jubilation of school managements and chagrin of parents.

Subsequently, there were multiple protests by parents and the State Platform for Common School System sought vacation of the stay. On October 5, the Madras HC vacated the stay and ordered the schools to follow the fee structure prescribed by the Justice Govindarajan panel. But on October 22 a day after the government uploaded the fee structure for all schools Justice Govindarajan put in his papers. On October 30, former HC judge K Raviraja Pandian was appointed the new fee panel head.EB