The fate of over 16,000 students who are preparing for the SSLC exam in March 2018 remains uncertain.
The reason: 397 schools — aided and unaided with a student strength of 16,497 — have not been able to obtain Renewal of Recognition for their high school classes. Sources in the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) said the schools had not got their Renewal of Recognition for reasons such as lack of adequate student strength, and inadequate infrastructure and facilities.
If a school does not have recognition, it would be considered unauthorised and students will not be able to sit for the exam.
Sources in the department said despite several reminders from the jurisdictional Block Education Officers (BEOs), many schools had not even applied for recognition. In some cases, however, the error appears to be on part of the BEOs who are insisting that schools need not undertake the recognition renewal process every year.
D. Shashi Kumar, general secretary of the Associated Management of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka, said several BEOs were allegedly harassing school managements and urging them to get the renewal done twice. According to the Karnataka Education Act, Renewal of Recognition is valid for a period of five years and also has a clause of granting permanent recognition to schools that have good infrastructure and track record.
A school management representative said the rule stating that aided schools should have a minimum of 25 students in class 10 has resulted in several schools getting disqualified to get their recognition renewed. The same rule has been relaxed for unaided schools. Mr. Kumar, however, said that several BEOs were insisting that even unaided schools should have 25 students per class.
At a meeting on Tuesday, nodal officers of the districts who are responsible for conducting the exam, were asked to look into the issue so that students were not affected.
P.C. Jaffer, Commissioner for Public Instruction, said that the department would facilitate and ensure that every child writes the SSLC examination. “Instructions will be given to ensure that all pending RR applications are cleared immediately. Schools that have not applied for RR will have to do so immediately,” he said.
