Edu…care — a division of the Aurangabad-based HR Consultants Pvt. Ltd — has been appointed by the Delhi-based NABET (National Accreditation Board for Education & Training) to train and prepare schools countrywide for accreditation. Fashioned after the Bangalore-based NAAC ( National Assessment & Accreditation Council) which inspects, rates and certifies colleges and universities, NABET was promoted by the Quality Council of India (estb.1996) in January 2008, and is the country’s first initiative to rate and certify primary, secondary and higher secondary schools.
Comments Vilas Kulkarni, an alumnus of Shivaji University, member of the Maharashtra State School Accreditation & Assessment Committee and executive director of Edu…Care: “Our school education system urgently needs upgradation for colleges and univer-sities to output multifaceted industry-ready graduates. To this end we are organising awareness programmes for schools and parents associations in Maharashtra and Gujarat. Our primary objective is to introduce schools to the concept of accreditation and explain its benefits, so that they can prepare themselves for accreditation.”
According to Kulkarni, the accred-itation process takes a minimum of six-nine months at the end of which NABET rates and grades schools which volunteer for accreditation. “Accredi-tation is not certification. It is about competency, not compliance. Various aspects of a school are assessed — teaching, governance, infrastructure, co-curricular activities — for complete social and ethical development of students. The focus is on curriculum development rather than the syllabus,” he explains.
One of the first schools to be certified by NABET is the Kendriya Vidyalaya at IIT-Powai, Mumbai. A few other schools are likely to be accredited this month.
Kulkarni believes that all stakeholders in the school education system — parents, teachers and institutions — “need to be on the same page” for systemic changes to take place. “In other countries parents demand accredi-tation. Currently that is not the case in India. Parents must demand that schools upgrade and improve constantly. We tolerate anything, for example, school buses without attendants. Such attitudes impact safety. The accredi-tation process will examine these aspects. And once a school is accredited there will be surveillance to ensure compliance,” he promises.
Meanwhile Edu… Care is all set to prepare 50 schools for NABET accredit-ation in 2010. “Our first priority is to persuade school managements to volunteer for accreditation by NABET. Once they accept the idea, we will aid and abet them to complete the process of accreditation successfully,” says Kulkarni.
Dilip Thakore (Bangalore)