According to the latest circular by CBSE, the private unaided CBSE affiliated schools will no longer be able to appoint principals or heads on their own as the board has empowered itself to monitor such appointments in schools that fall under its ambit. From now onwards the selection panels for choosing schools heads in Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) affiliated schools will include a person nominated by the CBSE chairperson and also a nominee of the state government.
It was also mentioned in the circular that the teachers aspiring to be principals will now have to qualify a Principal Eligibility Test (PET) conducted by the board.
This year, CBSE has also made other changes like Registration from Class 1, OASIS, Cashless Transactions, smart cards in schools and a nominee of the state govt in the selection committee.
Under Affiliation Bye-Laws Rule 25.2 (a) of CBSE, the selection committee for recruitment of head of school will consist of the president of the society, the chairman of the managing committee, an educationist, a person nominated by the chairman, CBSE and a nominee of the state government. As per as the State Education Act the nominee of the State government is the extra addition.
According to the TOI reports, out of the five members in the selection panel, two will be appointed directly by the CBSE board. A member of the central board’s governing body said that “Till now, it was the managing committee which used to independently pick the two, with the president of the society and the managing committee chairperson being the remaining two constituents. In case of private unaided schools, the recruitment used to be completely in the hands of the school management.”
On condition of autonomy, a principal of a private school in Delhi said, “This effectively creates a controlled regime. We don’t really know how reducing schools’ members in the selection committee will help them. The strength and kind of candidates vary from school to school. For that, there should have been more autonomy. The CBSE and state government nominees are welcome, but that may result in delays.”
