Parents continue protest against Orchids school in Bengaluru

Scores of parents staged a protest on Monday outside Orchids The International School in Mahalakshmi Layout questioning the institute's affiliation status with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

Recently, parents who send their children to Orchids branches at Nagarabhavi and Panathur also staged a protest. An FIR has also been filed against the Nagarabhavi branch.

Apparently, the school branch at Mahalakshmi Layout does not have CBSE affiliation and it has issued a circular informing parents that exams will be held for Classes 5 and 8 as per the state board syllabus. This caused worry among parents.

"We will write to the Department of School Education & Literacy demanding action against the management," said Yogananda B N of the RTE Students and Parents Association.

Orchids' statement

In a statement, Orchids said they are following rules and guidelines.

"All of our schools have required affiliation to operate in the state. Nine of our schools have CBSE/ICSE affiliation. Our recently opened schools are proposed to be CBSE schools in future and are undergoing the affiliation process by getting all the approvals/permissions/recognitions in place," the statement said.

"As per government regulations, all the schools have to be first affiliated to the state board to be able to apply for national/international board affiliation, and Orchids The International brand of schools have the required state board permission. The school is eligible to file CBSE registration only when grade 8 commences," the management explained.

"There are several approvals required from the education department to get state No Objection Certificate (NOC)... this is a time consuming and lengthy process. Normally, it takes three to four years for a school to formally get CBSE affiliation depending on when the school reaches grade 8," it said.

The management even claimed that the affiliation process got delayed due to the pandemic situation and that it had maintained complete transparency in the admission documentation.