Schools must disclose fee for CBSE affiliation

A NOC from state government along with self-sworn affidavit sufficient

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has revamped its affiliation rules and made it mandatory for schools to disclose fee structure and not levy any hidden charges on parents, failing which the institution can lose its affiliation.

Getting a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the state government along with a self-sworn affidavit by the applicant would be enough for the Board to process an application for affiliation.

The application process has been made simple under the revamped bylaws. The CBSE has reduced the paperwork drastically from 14 documents to just two documents to be filled at the time of application. The affiliation by-laws followed currently were made in the year 1988 and later modified in 2012.

The new affiliation bylaws also lay emphasis on achieving academic excellence through mandatory teacher training. The entire affiliation process will be completely online and integrated with instantaneous communication.

In the new by-laws, the requirements for affiliation have clearly been bifurcated into essential conditions for the grant of affiliation, and post affiliation conditions to be fulfilled before starting the academic session. The revised affiliation by-laws shall come into force with immediate effect from the date of notification, said CBSE.

While releasing the amendments to the bylaws, Union minister for human resource development Prakash Javadekar said that in order to make the fee structure of schools transparent, they will now be required to fully disclose all financial details to the guardians of students and no hidden charges will be allowed to pass off as fees.

In addition to focusing on the academic record, co-scholastic activities such as focus on sports and teacher training will also be considered for granting affiliation. The by-laws also provide for instances when schools could be disaffiliated, like for indulging in exam malpractices. The by-laws also stated that schools should charge fees under the heads prescribed by the department of education. The minister also stressed the importance of eliminating duplication of work.