Shimla, Sept 16 – The Himachal Pradesh Cabinet on Monday approved a proposal to affiliate 100 government schools with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) beginning next academic session, marking a shift from the state’s existing system under the Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education.
Officials said the move is aimed at raising the quality of education in government schools and curbing the steady migration of students to private institutions. “It’s generally felt that the CBSE examination pattern is stronger, and the board gives significant attention to teachers’ training. The idea is to lift the overall standard of education across the state,” an Education Department official said.
Currently, all of Himachal’s roughly 15,000 government schools are affiliated with the state board. With this decision, 100 institutions will be brought under CBSE in the first phase. Officials indicated that each Assembly constituency will have at least one school on the list, with a larger number of schools selected from district headquarters.
The shift is also seen as a step to make government schools more competitive with private ones, where CBSE affiliation and English-medium instruction often draw parents and students. “We have already introduced English as the medium of instruction in state schools, and the next logical step is CBSE affiliation,” the official said.
While the decision has been taken, the process of finalizing criteria for teacher selection in these schools is still under consideration. “Teacher preparedness will be crucial for the transition,” the official noted.
The rollout of CBSE affiliation in select government schools is expected to set the stage for wider reforms in the state’s school education system in the years ahead.
