Central Board of Secondary Education

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has said that it is now open to public-private partnerships in affiliated schools, not just in infrastructure but in other aspects of providing quality education to its students, including curriculum, assessment, training teachers and classroom technologies.

Education officer of the CBSE, Dr Sadhana Parashar, who played an active role in evolving the recently announced examination reforms and continuous comprehensive evaluation, said, "Curriculum reform began 10 years ago, but it took a long time to implement it. We are now looking at assessment in a holistic manner. The government will look at public-private partnerships in areas besides infrastructure. The CBSE is open to such partnerships for supportive holding in areas such as curriculum, support material and assessment. The modalities will have to be worked out before it is taken as a policy decision." She was speaking at a conference focused on improving the quality of school education in the country, organised by social enterprise, iDiscoveri Education.

Speakers at the conference came up with suggestions to build quality in schools. James Tooley, professor of education policy at Newcastle University, who has researched private education for the poor in India, spoke of "deregulation of high quality schools of tomorrow that India of the lower-middle class and the lower class can access". Speakers called for higher private participation for innovative practices to seep through.

The key speaker, renowned psychologist Dr Howard Gardner, who propounded the theory of multiple intelligences, spoke about the schools of tomorrow. Professor Gardner said that while there could be no one ideal school of tomorrow, an ideal situation would be where each child had his or her own school, own material, own objectives and own ways of achieving them. He said, "In future, schools will probably not exist as a standalone entity. There will be less of a boundary between the home, school and community, with focus on individual education."

Courtesy: Timesofindia.indiatimes.com