CBSE Schools Doubled in 5 years in Tamil Nadu

The number of CBSE schools in Tamil Nadu has increased to 580 presently. The number of CBSE affiliated schools in the state were 250 in 2010 and now the number has doubled by 2015.

According to a senior official in CBSE, the number of applications for affiliation has got enormously increased in the last two years. He said, “In 2013 and 2014, we gave affiliation to nearly 150 schools across Tamil Nadu. We received the highest number of applications over the last two years.”

In Tamil Nadu, the two cities, Chennai and Coimbatore have the most number of CBSE affiliated schools. Chennai alone has around 100 CBSE schools, while there are around 80 schools affiliated to CBSE in Coimbatore. With implementation of the Samacheer Kalvi syllabus there is a sudden rise in the number of schools that are getting affiliated to CBSE.

The CBSE Schools Management Association president CS Manoharan said, “The Samacheer Kalvi syllabus was not on a par with the matriculation syllabus. Schools wanted a higher standard and found CBSE as the best available option. The CBSE syllabus also helps students compete nationally and so schools made the switch.” Parents too were not quite happy with the Samacheer Kavi syllabus and according to Girish E, principal of PSG Public School Coimbatore, “Many parents felt the Samacheer Kalvi syllabus was too easy and moved their children to CBSE schools. In 2010 and 2011, many parents withdrew children from matriculation schools. This made us switch to CBSE.”

With combined IIT-JEE programmes in offer there is also a rise in the CBSE schools as they are preparing children from their schools for the joint engineering examinations. Uma Gopalakrishnana, an educational consultant based in Chennai said, “Apart from IIT-JEE training, CBSE schools equip students who want to study outside Tamil Nadu and for competitive exams. It is not the Samacheer Kalvi syllabus that is inadequate, but the examination methodology.”