Schools for scandals: CBSE schools turning into multi-crore enterprises in TS

Hyderabad: A chain of schools affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) was recently sold for Rs 600 crore. Another chain of schools. with its base in the NCR region. started an institution in posh Madhapur and expanding by launching another 6-7 schools, all in Hyderabad and adjacent Ranga Reddy and Medak. What is making them as far as from the NCR region, and Bangaluru and other parts of the country flocking to Hyderabad?

According to the management representatives from Hyderabad and Telangana, who have started CBSE schools,, "Hyderabad and Telangana have become hot destinations as fee collected by these chain of schools is on the higher side." The reason is that they make parents believe that their wards are going to high-end and elite schools.

Secondly, every State has one or the other kind of mechanism for fee regulation or government intervention. But, "in Telangana, there is no such strict compliances and regulatory mechanism when it comes to fee regulation. This provides schools to peg their offerings with fancy names and services to parents to collect exorbitant fee," says Sripathi Naidu (name changed), who runs three CBSE schools in and around Hyderabad.

Narendra, (name changed), a senior principal of a CBSE School in Koti, says there is a difference between schools promoted by those belonging to the State and those who come here to make it a multi-crore business enterprise. Despite adopting a cosmopolitan outlook, schools promoted by locals mostly ensure the schooling culture takes care of sensibilities of society and the State culture. For example, one prominent school from the NRC region kickstarting its operations was known where a student of higher school killed a primary school kid on one of its campuses in the region for postponement of examinations.

Technically, the school might have been saved from being responsible for such incidents on its campus. But the question raised was what kind of education culture it has encouraged in which a student resorts to a heinous crime for postponement of examinations? Parents should reflect on overall well-being of their wards before admitting them in schools and not get carried away their wards would be better off only when they study in a school with a CBSE tag.