In a landmark decision, the Kerala High Court held that the State Government could not stipulate educational need in a region as a condition for granting ecognition to private schools affiliated to the CBSE or ICSE board. The ruling comes as a respite to private schools, and as a win for our work promoting access to education, especially among low-income communities. Prior to the ruling, even the schools established before the implementation of the RTE (Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009) were denied recognition. The Court stated that while the State government can issue guidelines to implement the statutory provisions of the RTE Act, it has no right under RTE to make rules pertaining to assessment of educational need as a precondition to granting recognition.
CCS has consistently advocated for the review and annulment of arbitrary rules and regulations thwarting access to and undermining the quality of education in India. Through the National Independent Schools Alliance (NISA), we have successfully built a nationwide platform to bring together budget private schools (BPS) from across the country giving them a unified voice to address their concerns about legislations and bye-laws which apply to them and to facilitate quality improvement in these schools. NISA represents over 55,400 schools, from 20 state associations, which cater to the needs of about 9.35 million children.
To know more about the landscape of budget private schools in India, see our latest report Faces of Budget Private Schools.