School management to ensure that schools are operating as per the conditions of CBSE affiliation bye laws

Updated on: Saturday, January 05, 2013

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has adopted the Citizens' Charter as an effort to make its workings more transparent. Central government defines Citizen's Charter as 'a document which represents a systematic effort to focus on the commitment of the organization towards its citizens'.

The document lists the function of CBSE and time frame for processing various applications.

Even though Citizens' Charter is not legally enforceable many government and private organizations have started adopting the method to increase the quality of their interaction with the public. The government's brief on Citizens' Charter says the commitment to public by any organization should be in 'respect of standard of services, information, choice and consultation, non-discrimination and accessibility, grievance redress, courtesy and value for money'.

The interesting part of Citizens' Charter is that the organization also gets to document its expectation from the public. Hence, while CBSE has listed its duties towards the public, it makes it clear that things work best when the system is mutually productive. CBSE says parents should be proactive in relation to school activities in general and their wards in particular. The board also urges parents to participate in Parent- Teacher meetings and make constructive suggestions for improvements and express concerns fearlessly.

The board also has demanded that the school management should ensure the school is operating as per the conditions of CBSE affiliation bye laws. CBSE also wants the management to upgrade facilities in schools as and when the norms and standards are revised. Students too are in the purview of the board's radar and have been asked to develop a 'sense of pride in being a privileged part of CBSE school system'. The Citizens' Charter goes on further and asks students to 'eschew all acts of malpractices, particularly during examinations, and internalize discipline and ethos of CBSE'.

Finally, the board urges teachers to keep upgrading themselves academically and actively participate in training programmes conducted by the board.

SALIENT FEATURES OF CITIZENS' CHARTER

Lets people know the mandate of the concerned organization

Provides information on how to get in touch with officials, what to expect by way of services and how to seek a remedy if something goes wrong

Citizen's Charter does not by itself create new legal rights, but it helps in enforcing existing rights

Members of the civil society have been strongly advocating the adoption of a Citizens' Charter by all government organizations

Citizens' Charter also can list its demand from its stakeholders

School management to ensure that schools are operating as per the conditions of CBSE affiliation bye laws

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