Very Few Schools Accredited in India: NABET

Vinod Kakumanu
Dec. 20, 2022, 3:07 p.m.

Out of about 15 lakhs schools in India, only about 7000 (only 0,5%) are accredited to a recognized board. This was informed during a colloquium on quality control and accreditation of schools recently in Mumbai, by the chairperson of NABET.

The National Accreditation Board for Education and Training (NABET) is promoting the need for accreditation by schools, as part of the NEP 2020 vision. This was to help parents of school-going children make a more informed choice at the time of admissions. The accreditation process involves conducting independent audits of schools, to evaluate their infrastructure, teaching methods and student outcomes. Besides raising the standards and quality, NABET aims to encourage research climate in schools, and to impart knowledge in a holistic manner. Accreditation is part of the initiative to advance the Indian education system to compete with global standards.

Accreditation is a different process compared to the more commonly known “Affiliation”. When a school is affiliated to a particular educational board, it means that the school will follow the curriculum of that board along with some specific educational practices. So, affiliation is not a quality certification, but more like a license to operate. On the other hand, accreditation means getting a certificate of credibility from an authorised agency stating that the institution follows certain standards.