Process of CBSE School Accreditation in India

Central Board of Secondary Education or CBSE is considered to set a benchmark in the education sector in India.  Being a school affiliated to CBSE is a key factor for assured growth in coming years. But, to seek CBSE affiliation is a time consuming and tedious process. However, once a school gets affiliation from the CBSE, it needs to be accredited. Through School Quality Assessment and Accreditation (SQAA), CBSE has decided to conduct a thorough assessment of the quality of schools and measure the level of functions performed in the schools. It has also been decided that the schools be accredited once in every three years.

How to get CBSE Accreditation?

When a school is accredited by CBSE, this assures that the school can get the quality of education as well as confidence in its financial resources, human resources, performances and purposes which will ensure that the mission of the school gets accomplished. By September 2012, all CBSE schools will have to undergo a compulsory accreditation process. The aim of this process is not to compare or rank the schools but to provide quality education and implement effective systems. At the end of the assessment, each school shall receive the report containing the shortcomings on which the school will have to work upon.

The Process for Recognition is as follows:

• • Firstly, it is important for all the schools to refer to the CBSE website from time to time to keep themselves updated with the policies, schemes, amendments made such as implementation of SQAA along with list of agencies approved for accreditation process etc.
  • Apart from this, the schools intending to get accredited must ensure that they have a website with an ‘Accreditation Corner’ as prescribed by the CBSE and upload the ‘Mandatory Disclosure Form’ on their website before 31st December, 2012, which is available on the CBSE website.
  • Now, the schools should form a School Assessment Committee (SAC) with the Principal as the head of the committee. The schools intending to undergo accreditation should fill-in the ‘Form of Intent’ and submit it to the CBSE after which it would receive a confirmation letter to gain accreditation.
  • Once, the school receives an acknowledgement from the CBSE/agency, it should then fill-in the online SQAA Instruments after going through the SQAA Manual and submit it to the authorized agency.
  • After completing the formalities, the schools should make arrangements as per the Peer Assessment Team (PAT) visit schedule for coordinating the availability of students, teachers etc. apart from access to physical infrastructure, documents etc. to be produced for verification to the team members.
  • Also, the schools should act in a professional manner and not resort to any unwanted actions like concealing vital facts and figures and should use the visit of PAT members as a learning visit for improving the school quality irrespective of the result of SQAA.
  • After the visit, the schools would be given a ‘School Quality Enhancement Report’ (SQER) which should be thoroughly gone through and necessary action should be taken accordingly for improving the quality of teaching and learning.
  • A school which gets a score of 75 % or above (overall) and minimum 50 % shall be declared ‘Accredited’ by CBSE. The school’s name shall be then listed on the CBSE website under the list of accredited schools. The schools may use the terminology ‘affiliated and accredited CBSE School’ instead of only using “affiliated to CBSE”. The schools should not make any other false claim.
  • The validity period of SQAA accreditation is three years. A fresh application for renewal should be made before the expiry of the three year period to enjoy the privilege of being an ‘Accredited School of CBSE’ in a continuous manner.