The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has released new guidelines on Friday for schools to implement a mandatory prior self-assessment against the School Quality Assessment and Assurance (SQAA) framework. The purpose of this is to improve the quality of education and school functioning in various areas such as curriculum, infrastructure, assessment, inclusive practices, human resources, management, governance, leadership, and beneficiary satisfaction.

The self-assessment for schools is required for the acceptance of applications for new affiliations/switch over upgradation/extension for the session 2024-25 and onwards on SARAS portal. The CBSE has also directed schools to adopt and adapt NCF-FS 2022 and utilize ‘Jadui Pitara,’ a collection of teaching-learning material prepared by NCERT for teaching the foundational years.

Schools are also advised to maintain a record of supporting documents on their end for verification. Additionally, CBSE has directed schools to check the guidelines issued by CERT for the internal infrastructure for play school education on NCERT’s official website. Every child must undergo an annual physical examination by a competent physician, including an appropriate vision-screening, audio-testing, and other tests as deemed necessary, as per the CBSE guidelines.