The department of school education and literacy, Karnataka on Friday announced a revised set of regulations for setting up new schools, recognition, and renewals targeted at simplifying and expediting the process.

Announcing the revised online procedures for Bengaluru, the minister for school education, B C Nagesh said that the procedures for registration of new schools, their first recognition, subsequent renewals of recognition, and NOC for granting affiliation to the central curriculum have been changed. Primarily, all these tasks have been handed over to the Deputy Directors of Public Instruction (DDPI) and taken online.

What required eight stages of procedure to be completed for the registration of a new school has now been cut short to four. Similarly, the timeline for the entire procedure, which took 27 days previously, would be reduced to 17 days.

“Previously, the procedure was a lengthy one. Schools had to approach the Block Education Officer for the process to be initiated. Now they can skip the level and go to DDPI instead,” said Nagesh. Also, a mere 5% of applications selected randomly would be selected for physical inspection.

The process of getting first recognition has been reduced from the present 27 days to 14. While the school management is applying for the first recognition initiated by the generation of the U-DISE code so far, it will now be managed by the DDPIs.

Among the common complaints of private schools in Karnataka are the hassles related to the renewal of recognition. Nagesh said that it would be eased. The process has been taken online where DDPIs would verify the records and issue a digitally signed certificate with QR authentication. This can be downloaded online. It will be completed within 5 days as against the timeframe of 27 days allowed previously.

“If schools had to get a NOC to be affiliated with the central curriculum it was a task. First, they had to approach the commissioner, then it would pass through a committee that oversaw the same, etc. The education minister had the authority. Now, it has been handed over to DDPIs. The 26-stage process has been reduced to 4,” said Nagesh.

NO HIJAB

Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Nagesh said that no student donning a hijab would be allowed to write exams as it is not part of the uniform. He said that the same rules as last year would continue. “Contrary to what many believe, we have seen an increase in enrollments of girl students from the community, and many more are taking up exams,” he said. This comes in the wake of some girls approaching the Supreme Court again seeking that a ban on Hijab is lifted.

10% grace marks

Even this year, the 10 % grace marks for SSLC board exams which were announced during the Covid-19 pandemic will continue. This will help students who have secured over 25 but below 30 marks in the exams sail through.