CBSE for classes 1-7 in AP schools from 2021-22; affiliation process will take at least a year, says top official

Less than two weeks after announcing that the CBSE system would be implemented for classes 1 to 7 in all government schools from 2021-22 academic year, the Andhra Pradesh government seems to have put it on hold with a top official on Monday saying obtaining accreditation would not come immediately as the process would take at least a year.

The government's idea was to first bring classes 1 to 7 under CBSE and classes 8 to 10 over the subsequent three years, thereby completing the conversion process by 2024.

"We have just started discussion with the CBSE. Normally, they accept formal accreditation for classes 8-10 only," School Education Principal Secretary B Rajsekhar pointed out.

He said they were now initiating the process for securing CBSE accreditation for class 8 for the 2022-23 academic year. Rajsekhar made it clear that obtaining CBSE accreditation would not come immediately as the process would take at least a year but did not specify whether the Telugu medium of instruction would continue unchanged.

Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy announced on February 25 that the CBSE system would be implemented for classes 1 to 7 in all government schools from the 2021-22 academic year.

The Chief Minister's decision to switch over to the Central Board of Secondary Education is seen as a move by some groups to completely do away with the Telugu medium of education, at a time when the Supreme Court is in the process of adjudicating a litigation against the conversion of all government schools, from classes 1 to 6, to English medium.

Under CBSE, Telugu is only a subject taught and the curriculum will be in Hindi or English medium.

"There are different ways of getting affiliated to CBSE for classes 1-7. We are exploring a lot of other things related to CBSE accreditation. We are discussing it (with CBSE)," the Principal Secretary said.

On the concern over doing away with Telugu, Rajsekhar said they were discussing with CBSE how to ensure the state issues were not diluted.

"We are discussing how to encourage Telugu without any problem, without losing focus and leveraging CBSE to include (Telugu) culture in the textbooks while affiliating with CBSE. We are also discussing what policies should be brought in to achieve the standards in schools without diluting the state issues," the Principal Secretary said.