CBSE to Conduct Surprise Inspections to Errant Schools in Northeast

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided to conduct surprise inspections in affiliated schools in the northeastern states in order to curb unauthorized appearance of students in CBSE board examinations for classes X and XII in the region. The board will conduct the inspections before the examinations start in 2014.

As revealed by the sources, there are allegations that some of the school authorities in the northeast region are involved in malpractice of letting those students appear in the CBSE board exams, who are neither enrolled in their schools nor attends regular classes.

The board's head office has already enlisted names of school principals from northeast who are entrusted to make surprise inspections to CBSE affiliated schools across the region in order to identify schools involved in misconduct of allowing dropouts of other schools as well as students who are not enrolled in their schools to appear in the board examinations, said K K Choudhury, the regional officer of the CBSE Guwahati region. The inspection unearths some other vested interests as well, he added.

Strict action will be taken against schools in the northeast that would be found violating CBSE norms.

As per the source, the private schools would be under stricter observation of the inspection teams. An inspection team will constitute two principals who can visit any CBSE-affiliated school of the region at anytime, said the source.

There has been recorded a significant rise in the number of students appearing for CBSE board examinations conducted in the northeast region in the last two decades. A senior CBSE official said that it will also come to light during inspection that whether unauthorized appearance of students in the board exams is the reason behind this rise in the number of examinees.

According to the latest record, in the northeast region around 15,000 students appeared in the CBSE board exams in 1991, but that has now crossed 1 lakh in the region.