What is the process for starting a new CBSE school in India?
In India, schools must function as not-for-profit organizations like societies or trusts or Section 8 companies.
Firstly, let us state that there is a great deal of documentation and that it requires careful scrutiny. Schools that are affiliated with the state board and have the ‘No Objection Certificate’ can apply for CBSE affiliation. Let’s read this post and find out how you can start a CBSE school in India.
What is the cost of building and operating a school?
S. No | Location of School | Land Requirement (Minimum) (Sq Meters) |
1 | Anywhere in India | 6000 |
2 | In municipal limits of cities with the population | 4000 |
3 | In Hilly areas prescribed by the planning commissions (NITI Aayog). | 4000 |
4 | In Municipal limits of the State Capital Cities | 4000 |
5 | In the North Eastern States | 4000 |
6 | In the State of Jammu and Kashmir | 4000 |
7 | In Municipal Limits of Ghaziabad, NOIDA, Faridabad & Gurugram cities. | 4000 |
8 | In the Municipal limits of Panchkula and Mohali/SAS nagar. | 4000 |
9 | In the Municipal Limits class-X cities (Ahemdabad, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune)or on the Hill stations. | 2000 |
10 | (For senior Secondary Level) | 3000 |
11 | (For Secondary Level) | 1600 |
12 | (For Senior Secondary Level) | 2400 |
13 | Union Territories | 4000 |
How much does it cost to build a school?
It normally takes phases to build a school (here we’re talking about a 1000-student CBSE school).
- Phase 1: 20,000 sq ft to 25,000 sq ft construction – Year 1
- Phase 2: 12,000 sqft- 15,000 sq ft – year 3
- Phase 3: 6,000 sqft – 10,000 sq ft – Year 4
Multiply these numbers by Rs 1000 – 1,400 per square foot to get an idea of the cost of construction plus furniture. In addition to this, you can spend money on marketing, landscaping, sports facilities, etc. That depends entirely on the promoter’s vision.
State Board Affiliation
A school needs to be affiliated with the state board. It doesn’t matter if it’s eventually affiliated with CBSE/ICSE/IB Board. Since education is a state subject, any affiliation is allowed, but state board affiliation is mandatory.
How to Start a School in India(Essential Steps)
Set up a trust/society/section 8 company
The government says the school should be run by a non-profit trust or society. Each state has a Registrar’s office where societies can register.
As well, you can start a school by forming a Section 8 company.
Register/ Lease the Plot of Land
The land on which the school will be built must either be leased or owned by the society or trust. It is important to have the documents certified by the local land registration office. A CBSE school should have at least one acre of land within the city limits and 1.5 acres outside the city limits.
The CBSE has amended its bye-laws regarding land requirements. For starting a school in metros, the land requirement is 1600 square meters (about 0.4 acres) for Pre-Primary through Class X, and about an acre for Classes up to Class XII. For the rest of India, the rule remains the same as described above. The LEASE DURATION should be at least 15 years if the land will be leased out to a non-profit organization. In case of ownership, the land title documents is a Sale Deed/Conveyance Deed/Gift Deed/Lease Deed/Sub lease/Allotment Letter etc. duly registered before the Registration Authority concerned of the State as per rules.
STATE BOARD AFFILIATION (Approval from local education office)
When the building and staff are ready, open admissions. Register at the local education office, usually the DEO (District Education Office) and pay the fee. Following the inspection of the school, they’ll give the society/trust the certification they need. Once the state board gives permission, the school can take off.
The above steps summarize how you start a school in India, now how do you get CBSE affiliation?
HOW TO GET CBSE AFFILIATION
A NEW school can choose five options when applying for affiliation for the first time with CBSE;
- Approval for Middle School Syllabus
- New affiliation up to Secondary Level
- A new affiliation up to Senior Secondary Level
- Changing over from the state board to CBSE (schools that were churning out Class X and XII under the state board)
- Secondary Level Switch-over from other boards
- Senior Secondary Level Switch-over from other boards
You should choose one based on what you want
- Are your labs and classrooms ready – Senior Secondary Level requires labs and classrooms for classes I to XII
- The market needs to be ready in terms of demand – It’s unlikely a school will open and students will shift to higher classes in big numbers. Make your choice wisely.
- How much you can spend on the staff – To get affiliation, you have to show the entire staff up-to Class XII, so most schools only grow slowly.
The best option is Option number 2, Fresh Affiliation Up to Secondary Level. The school will have affiliation until Class X, and then, after a year, it can re-apply for Senior Secondary Affiliation.
In case you’re ready to do the paperwork, there’s no need for touts or middlemen during this entire affiliation process.
Here is the official website for CBSE affiliations
CBSE provides the school with a list of bye-laws to be kept in mind while applying for CBSE Affiliation. Here is the link to download bye-laws.
Steps to get a CBSE affiliation in India:
Step 1: Before filling out the online form, the school should have the following documents ready; (CBSE Circular)
- Digital Signaturess: To authorise your final submission, use digital signatures.You can use the digital signature of any chairman, member, trustee, or director.
Make sure to get these 6 documents to be with you before starting the process”
- No Objection Certificate –It’s a certificate from the State Education Department (Secretariat) saying the State Government doesn’t have an objection to the school affiliating with CBSE.
- In order to follow CBSE, a school has to write an application to the State Education Secretary Office (located in the state’s capital). It can be a simple application that goes to the local DEO office.
- In case the NOC/Recognition certificate is in vernacular language, then the school needs to upload a duly notarized English/Hindi translation along with the signed letter. You should know that there’s a special department in the state government that handles transactions.
- School Recognition Certificate from the state education department as per RTE Act 2009. It’s also called an affiliation certificate by the state board.
- Land Certificate: According to Appendix X of the Affiliation Bye-laws, the competent authority to issue the land certificate is the DM/ADM/SDM / Tehsildar/Naib Tehsildar/Registrar/Sub-Registrar or any other equivalent authority.
- Fire Safety Certificate: To be issued by the Fire Safety Department of the State Government/ Competent Government.Authority like a Municipal Corporation, etc. with validity (validity as of date of application submission).
- Building Safety Certificatehas to be issued by a competent government authority or by an empanelled engineer. For e.g. Empanelled engineer by Municipal Corporations /Development Authorities (PWD)/ Roads/ Building Department etc.
- Certificate of Registration of Society/ Trust/ Section 8 Companyrunning the school.
- Prepare your school website with CBSE-compliant information. It should have curriculum details, TC Sample, Fee Norms, Affiliation Status, Student details, Address, Lists of books prescribed along with undertakings from the Principal, Annual Report, School Circulars, Fee Details, Details of Teachers Training, Academic Achievements, Self-Affidavit of the School (This is usually done on 100 Rs stamp paper).
- Information about UDISE Code
- Scanned copies of Audited Balance Sheet
- Video Clips & Geo Tagged Photos
- Transport Safety Certificate
- Soft copy / Scanned copy of Academic Calendar
Step 2: Start filling the Online form
- KYC Form
- Initial Part Payment of Rs 10,000
- Part A – input the information of the 6 forms listed above
- When the school submits all the information in Part A, it will have the option to generate either a System generated Self-certification or a System generated DEO certification. If the school chooses Self-certification, it will have to upload the document with a digital signature. If the school wants a DEO certificate, it has to have it signed by the DEO/DIOS/Any other officer authorized by the State/UT Education Department and upload it with the school’s digital signature. Once part A is filled out, registration of the school is valid until the last date of application submission for the respective session (e.g. for 2023-24, registration of the school is valid until 31st October, 2022). In the event that part B isn’t submitted by the last date for submitting applications for the respective session, the registration will be invalid and the registration fee forfeited.
- Part B – Upload the 6 documents and fill out all the other details
- Make the part and final payments
Step 3: The Inspection Committee will be formed within 15 days of submission of the online application
A Physical Inspection of the school has to happen within 22 days of the Inspection Committee being formed.
In addition to the inspection committee letter, the Board should give three dates for the inspection. Inspections can be scheduled on any of these three dates, depending on the Inspection Committee and the School. Usually one of them is a Central School (Kendriya Vidyalay) Principal and the other one is a teacher from any aided or unaided school.
In case the inspection committee is ready and the school fails to schedule the inspection for the stipulated dates and timeframe (except for reasons beyond the school’s control), the school will be penalized with Rs 25000 and a fresh schedule will be communicated. If the school doesn’t get the inspection done after three chances, the application will be rejected.
Step 4: Prepare a file
The following are the documents you need for CBSE affiliation:
Details of Annexure
- Society Details
- Constitution of the Society & Society Bye-Laws
- Registration Certificate of the society
- School Management Committee List
- Statement of Income & Expenditure Audited Account
- Balance Sheet of last two to three years
- Bank Certificate – Mentioning this – in case you have to take some project loan from a certain bank.
- Staff Particulars
- Service Agreement with Employees
- Principal Particulars – Professional Resume
- Staff Salary Statement – Salary should be paid through Electronic Clearing Service (ECS)
- Letter to the bank regarding Staff Salary remittance
- Copy of the A/C payee cheque meant for staff salary
- Reserve Fund (This is a draft which one has to make as laid down in the bye-laws)
- Infrastructure Details
- Land Records Certificate of Land
- Supporting Documents by Tehsildar & Patwari – This in case the school is out of Municipality bounds
- Approved Map and Building Layout – from the relevant Town and Country Planning Authority.
- School Building Room Particulars School Building – List of all the rooms along with the size and details.
- School Building and Facilities Photographs
- Physical Health Education & Recreation Facility Details
- Laboratory Details
- Library Facilities & Details
- Librarian Details – CV / Resume of the Librarian
- State Govt Related Documents
- State Board Affiliation Certificate & NOC from the state
- Student Details
- Student’s Details Record of Internal Assessment (Class Wise)
- Fees Structure (Know about it here)
- School Time Table
- School Prospectus
- Certificate of Fire Safety & Sanitary Conditions
- Provision of Medical Check Up
- Undertaking by Manager regarding the admissions only up till Class VIII – This basically says the school is not admitting students in classes for which they do not have permission.
- Details of Training Modules conducted for teachers
- Building Safety Certificate
- Transport Fitness Certificate
- School Conveyance facility Details – If School is providing conveyance to students
- Optional – This is in case you want to make a stronger case
- CBSE Online Submitted Application
- Copy of the submitted bank draft
- Letter of inspection from CBSE
- Financial Projections
- Land Documents – Photocopy
- Admission Announcements
- Annexure II
School has to arrange for a videographer on inspection day. Here are the CBSE’s videography guidelines;
The person who is taking videos should cover the parking lot, the main gate, and the boundary.
As soon as the videographer enters the lab, they should make sure there’s wide angle coverage. Next, the videography person should cover all equipment and other lab stuff. The concerned subject teacher should also be available in the lab to answer questions and show the stock register.
When entering the library, the videographer should make sure the video is wide angle. Following that, the videographer should cover all bookshelves, magazines & periodicals, reading area, and other facilities like computers with internet access. As part of this, the librarian should also be available in the library to answer IC questions and show the catalog, accession, and issue register.
Wide angle video coverage of toilets and sinks.
Occupied and Vacant class rooms: The videographer should make sure the video has a wide angle. Afterward, the videographer should cover all the fixtures, furniture, and other stuff in the room.
Other rooms like the staff room, music room, etc. Whenever the videographer enters a room, he should make sure he gets a wide angle shot. The videographer should then cover everything in the room, including fixtures, furniture, and other amenities.
For further information, read this blog post.
Grant of CBSE Affiliation
Upon completion of the inspection, the CBSE Board will grant affiliation within 30 days of receiving the inspection report. A school has to respond within 15 days if there’s a deficiency.
Starting a new CBSE school in India can be a daunting task. But with the right planning and support, you can make it happen.
We can assist you with this process and make your task easy.
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