CBSE allots new regional office to Chandigarh

CHANDIGARH: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has allotted a new regional office to Chandigarh to be headed by a separate regional officer in a major development that will benefit all stakeholders of school education in Chandigarh, Punjab, and Jammu and Kashmir.

Earlier, there was one regional office in Panchkula catering to four states – Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir — and UT Chandigarh.
The jurisdiction of Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Chandigarh has now been given to Chandigarh regional officer, while Panchkula’s regional officer will cater to Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. From the coming academic session, the new office will be responsible for conducting the board exams and the other school-related works of the two states and UT.
The charge of the new regional officer has been given to S Dharini Arun. She had been the deputy secretary at the national eligibility-cum-entrance test (NEET) unit. Talking to TOI, she confirmed her joining as Chandigarh regional officer.
The new CBSE regional office is one of the six new regional offices of the board at Bengaluru, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Delhi West, Noida and Pune. According to a recent circular, “The board shall now be functioning with 16 regional offices with their territorial jurisdiction throughout the country and abroad.”
Officials from CBSE said the new regional offices will be responsible for conducting board exams from the next academic year. For the current year, schools have been asked to report to the existing office, that is the Panchkula regional office.
A notification dated January 29 stated that “the schools falling under the jurisdiction of the new regional offices shall at present approach the regional offices concerned as per previous jurisdiction for conduct of both classes X and XII examinations to be conducted in February 2019 the new regional offices shall be responsible for conduct of board examinations for the academic session 2019-20 that is February-April 2020.”
According to officials, the move will prove beneficial and accelerate the functioning of the board. Schools too welcomed the move. We don’t exactly know why CBSE thought of having a separate regional office in the Tricity, but it is good. They would have less burden and more time for schools and parents now,” said a private school principal.