The Consumer Protection Council, Tamil Nadu, has mooted an independent autonomous School Accreditation and Assessment Council on the lines of National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), which accredits higher educational institutions.

In a resolution adopted at its general body meeting here on Saturday, the council suggested creation of such a council with the cooperation of the State and Union governments to grade schools, especially in the wake of criticisms that there has been a fall in the standard of education in schools in Tamil Nadu. This will enable parents to choose the schools and give incentive to schools to be competitive and provide quality education. The council should be managed by reputed academics, preferably retired, with no vested interests. The gradation will help the State and Union governments to “direct the fund flow,” the resolution said.

In another resolution, the council appealed to the State government, the Tiruchi Corporation and Railways to expedite and complete the construction of the overbridge near the Fort Railway Station at the earliest. Citizens had been put to enormous hardship for more than a year. The progress of the work had been agonisingly slow, it said.

Council president C.T. Selvakumar presided over the meeting and its secretary S. Pushpavanam presented the annual report.

The following were elected unanimously as office-bearers for the term 2025-27: C. T. Selvakumar (president); K. Sekar (vice-president), S. Pushpavanam (secretary), Lakshmi Iyer (joint secretary), Mohamed Isaque (treasurer) and Vrinda Ramanan, G. Ravindran, K. Chandrasekaran, K. Venkataraman, A. Jayaraman, V. Rabindran, Uppili Kothandaraman, Vaideeswaran, and M.R. Sahayanathan (all executive committee members).

Later, addressing the council members virtually on cyber crime and consumer protection, Anusha Iyer, Deputy General Manager, Consumer Education and Research Centre, said staying vigilant was the best protection against cyber crime.

Educated people too fell prey to cyber criminals because they think it would not happen to them. Scamsters were ahead in inventing new traps, she said and briefed the members on dos and don’ts to protect themselves from criminals.