CBSE holds sessions to train schools on new affiliation process

Dubai - Teachers in the UAE contended that the new system has been restructured as per various recommendations.

As the school affiliation system goes completely digital, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) recently held a series of webinars and training sessions to familiarise the institutions with the new process.

Teachers in the UAE contended that the new system has been restructured as per various recommendations for systemic reforms laid down in the new National Education Policy (NEP).

Anurag Tripathi, the board’s secretary, had earlier said: “The CBSE has restructured the affiliation process under different categories of applications i.e. fresh affiliation, upgradation, extension of affiliation etc.”

“The restructuring will help in establishing ease of doing business in the CBSE affiliation system, attaining the goal of minimum government, maximum governance, automated and data-driven decisions, achieve transparency, bring more accountability in the entire systemic processes and achieve quick and time-bound disposal of all applications,” added Tripathi.

Fathima Sherief, CBSE school coordinator, Gulf Model School, pointed out: “A well-structured webinar was conducted to explain the school affiliation re-engineered automation system i.e. SARAS; the documents required for the affiliation of the existing schools, new schools, upgradation for the government schools, independent schools and foreign schools. The step-by-step procedure was explained for the newly joined CBSE affiliation.”

She said: “In this restructured CBSE affiliation process, getting the affiliation will be less time-bound and new schools can join for fresh affiliation. It will verify the resources of learning, teachers’ qualification, safety and security and quality of leadership for the robust education system.”

Head teachers explained that the school inspection will focus on academic progress and social development of students, quality of teaching, assessment of learning, the physical resources, students' safety and health and quality of leadership to improve learning outcomes.

Zubair Ahmad, head of operations, Springdales School Dubai, pointed out: “Moving the affiliation process online will have a number of spill-on effects which are all positive. Affiliation approvals will be streamlined giving a much more efficient turnaround time for schools. Schools will benefit through the transparent processes and by having certification on the CBSE website, which is easily transferable to our school website.”

The board has also revised timelines for the application process as per the restructured system.

As per the revised timeline, every year the application window for fresh affiliation and up gradation of affiliation will open three times - March 1 to March 31, June 1 to June 30 and September 1 to September 30.

Deepika Thapar Singh, CEO-Principal of Credence High School, underlined: “Some of the main features of the re-engineered affiliation process or SARAS are reduced timelines for new affiliation applications, thereby making this process completely smooth and hassle-free, automatic approvals for extension /upgradation/section increase, use of AI (artificial intelligence) to read documents, provision of virtual inspection etc.

The training was on how to use this digital platform (SARAS) which has been restructured for ensuring greater effectiveness with least human intervention and will be effective from March 2021. This system will also help in the ease of doing business in CBSE affiliation system, reduce compliances and avoid redundancy.”

nandini@khaleejtimes.com