Kerala HC asks Education Department to issue recognition certificates to CBSE schools in the state

In a major relief to around 1,400 CBSE-affiliated schools in the state, the Kerala High Court has directed the General Education Department to issue a certificate of recognition, as laid down in the RTE Act 2009, to all schools that apply and are found eligible for it.

After the CBSE by-laws were revised in 2018, recognition certificate from the state government was made mandatory for new affiliation or for extending it, as opposed to the earlier practice of obtaining a No-Objection Certificate (NOC). However, the General Education Department had been ignoring the applications from CBSE schools for the past two and a half years, thereby placing their affiliation at risk.

The Council of CBSE Schools, Kerala (CCSK), an association of CBSE-affiliated schools took legal recourse against the state's lackadaisical attitude. The Court ordered that recognition certificates shall be issued by the concerned Deputy Directors of Education to CBSE schools after following due procedure and after conducting the necessary inspections.

"The judgement will be highly beneficial as the recognition certificate under RTE Act will be an inclusive recognition that shall serve for any purpose while dealing with higher authorities," Indira Rajan, chief patron of CCSK, said. It will be beneficial for the schools for payment of taxes under different heads and for continued affiliation with CBSE, she added.