A proposal to give accreditation to schools based on the quality of education they provide could encourage educational institutions in the country to improve their standards. The Quality Council of India (QCI), an autonomous body, has developed an Accreditation Standard for Quality School Governance that assesses schools not just on the curriculum or performance in examinations but also on infrastructure, health and safety, ethical values and so on.
The performance of a school on these parameters will determine its “maturity” and make it eligible for accreditation. The proposed assessment and accreditation of schools is a welcome move. Securing the stamp of approval of a recognised and respected institution like the QCI will improve a school’s reputation. It should prompt schools to provide students with better education.
QCI’s accreditation will be voluntary and introduced in a phased manner with private schools coming first.
Perhaps only the good schools will approach the QCI initially. However, the government must consider making the procedure compulsory for all schools, private and government-run. It is the smaller private schools and the government schools that are falling back in providing quality education. Holding out an incentive of accreditation will push these schools to pull up their socks.
Teachers – serving and retired – are to be roped in to carry out an assessment. While teachers rather than officials will be the best equipped to understand the needs of children and the challenges of teaching them, inviting teachers currently in service to participate might not be desirable. Government teachers are already overburdened with tasks like data collection for census, acting as polling agents and so on. Hiring them to assess schools will mean more work. One of the reasons for poor education standards in schools is that teachers rarely show up to teach. If the goal of the QCI is to improve teaching in schools, this aim will be defeated if serving teachers are busy assessing schools rather than teaching. Hiring retired teachers for this task will be a better idea.
