Number of CBSE schools double in 5 years in Tamil Nadu

COIMBATORE: The number of CBSE schools in Tamil Nadu has more than doubled in the last five years. In 2010, around 250 schools from the state were registered with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), a number that has now touched 580.
A senior CBSE official in Chennai said the applications for affiliation to the board peaked in the last two years. “In 2013 and 2014, we gave affiliation to nearly 150 schools across Tamil Nadu.We received the highest number of applications over the last two years,” the official said.
Chennai and Coimbatore have the most CBSE schools in the state. The two cities account for more than one third of the schools. Chennai has around 100 CBSE schools, while there are close to 80 in and around Coimbatore, the board said.
The rise in numbers is linked to the implementation of the Samacheer Kalvi syllabus aimed at providing uniform education in state board, matriculation, oriental and Anglo Indian schools in the state. Samacheer Kalvi, implemented under the Tamil Nadu Education Act, 2010, received mixed reactions, especially from private matriculation school managements.
“The Samacheer Kalvi syllabus was not on a par with the matriculation syllabus,” said CBSE Schools Management Association president C S Manoharan. “Schools wanted a higher standard and found CBSE as the best available option. The CBSE syllabus also helps students compete nationally and so schools made the switch.”
Parents too were unhappy with the standard of the Samacheer Kalvi syllabus. “Many parents felt the Samacheer Kalvi syllabus was too easy and moved their children to CBSE schools,” said Girish E, principal, PSG Public School, Coimbatore. “In 2010 and 2011, many parents withdrew children from matriculation schools. This made us switch to CBSE,” he said.
The state government later passed an order saying matriculation schools could not close, but could start a parallel CBSE institution. “So, private school managements across the state started CBSE branches,” Girish said.
Another reason for the mushrooming CBSE schools in the state is the combined IIT-JEE programmes that they offer. “Apart from IIT-JEE training, CBSE schools equip students who want to study outside Tamil Nadu and for competitive exams,” said Uma Gopalakrishnan, an educational consultant based in Chennai. “It is not the Samacheer Kalvi syllabus that is inadequate, but the examination methodology,” she said.