The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has asked its affiliated schools across the country to shut down shops selling textbooks, stationery, school bags, uniforms, shoes and similar articles within their premises.
It has issued an Advisory to schools not to indulge in commercial activities by way of selling of books, stationary, uniforms, school bag etc and to adhere to the provisions of Affiliation Bye- Laws of the Board.
The advisory says
The Board, time and again have issued advisories to all its affiliated schools not to indulge in commercial activities by way of selling of text books, note books, stationary items, uniforms etc and to adhere to the provisions of Affiliation Bye-Laws of the Board. However, it has been brought to the notice of the Board through various complaints received from parents and other stakeholders that still schools are indulging in commercial activities by way of selling of books and uniforms etc within the school premises or through selected vendors.
2. Rule 19.1 (ii) of CBSE Affiliation Bye-Laws mandates that the society/ Trust / Company registered under section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956 shall ensure that the school is run as a community service and not as a business and that commercialization does not take place in the school in any shape whatsoever.
3. Further, all the schools affiliated to CBSE are required to follow directions given in circular No. Acad/13/2016 dated 12.04.2016 regarding use of NCERT /CBSE textbooks but often the Board receives reports and complaints regarding the pressure exercised by schools on children and their parents to buy textbooks other than NCERT/CBSE.
4. The Board has taken serious view of the above violations. Hence, once again your attention is drawn that Educational Institutions are not commercial establishments and their sole purpose is to provide quality education.
5. Therefore, the schools are directed to desist from the unhealthy practice of coercing parents to buy text books, note books, stationary, uniforms, shoes, school bags etc from within the premise or from selected vendors only.
6. The school management shall ensure strict compliance of the above.
This is a very good step and all CBSE schools must follow, infact other Schools with affiliations to ICSE and State syllabus must also follow the same.
unaided schools of karnataka should also do this.
As a parent, I agree with the CBSE decision. Schools are making money doing business on premises by selling all school related items without any choice. For example, they say buy the school uniform from this shop only. Why Not open the competition? A better choice will lead to lower prices and the best vendor shall benefit.
The list goes on. Buy notebooks etc.
I too am glad that CBSE has stressed on this point. As our parents struggled to give us best, we too are striving hard to give our children the best in the form education but the fees schools are asking seems to be unreasonably high. I just enrolled my son in a CBSE school and I am paying almost 1,20,000 annually. I feel it is way too much cos it does not include any Co caricullam activiy.
In particular school uniform is a mafia. Most schools have tie up with Sheetal collections. Why not permit purchase from anywhere?
The second mafia is notebooks.
please advice , how do we stop this extortion from pvt schools in the from of uniforms and books.
can we get the mail id where we can complain about