Autar Nehru (Delhi)

CBSE headquarters in Delhi: decisive action. Inset: Himanshu Gupta

Bearing down heavily on ‘dummy schools’ for a second time this year, on November 6 the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) — India’s largest national school-leaving examinations board with 30,373 affiliated schools — withdrew the affiliation of 21 schools. Simultaneously it barred six affiliated schools from providing children standard XII classes and exams. The list of 27 schools (predominantly from Delhi north and west suburbs) was issued after giving these schools the stipulated 30-day notice under affiliation bye-laws to argue against disaffiliation.

Under CBSE regulations, to qualify for affiliation, primary-secondary schools have to comply with over 25 bye-laws drawn up by the board which prescribes a rigorous syllabus for students. Among the pre-conditions of affiliation are that all applicant schools should be registered and licensed by the state/municipal government and conduct full-fledged teaching in all classes/grades.

However, with the onset of the coaching classes boom of the new millennium, some affiliated school managements “outsource” teaching-learning in classes XI-XII to test prep coaching institutes to better prepare students for highly competitive entrance exams such as IIT-JEE, NEET, UPSC among others. These schools have earned the pejorative of ‘dummy’ schools inasmuch as they are fake or fraudulent institutions which register students for CBSE/CISCE class X and XII board exams without conducting classes.

“The practice of dummy or non-attendance admissions contradicts the core mission of school education, compromising students’ foundational growth. We are taking decisive action to combat the proliferation of dummy schools and to send a clear message to all affiliated institutions to resist the lure of accepting dummy or non-attending admissions,” said CBSE secretary Himanshu Gupta at a press conference while sharing the list of disaffiliated and penalised schools.

With capacity in higher education expanding much too slowly to accommodate an estimated 10 million school-leavers per year, entrance exams for admission into top-ranked undergrad colleges and higher education institutions have become tougher with only 2-3 percent of toppers mostly drilled and skilled in privately-promoted coaching institutes, securing admission into IITs and top-ranked undergrad colleges. Hence the dummy schools racket. Dummy schools benefit by way of showing good results and getting a commission per student enrolled in coaching centres.   

With the introduction of the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) in 2022 which doesn’t give any weightage to class XII examination scores for admission in 345 Central government colleges/universities and other HEIs, the value of conventional higher secondary school education is fast disappearing with “disastrous consequences” for K-12 schools. Many top-ranking students privately admit having skipped higher secondary schooling for cram coaching centres.  

“Dummy schools pose a threat to holistic learning which includes co-curricular, extra-curricular education possible only in conventional schools. Unfortunately, coaching institutes have become very popular with parents, who prioritise cramming for entrance exams over holistic education. The problem has ballooned to epidemic proportion and unless it is curbed, traditional higher secondary education will be emperilled,” warns Dr. Sudha Acharya, principal, ITL Public School, Dwarka (Delhi) and a former president of the National Progressive Schools’ Conference. A member of CBSE’s inspection team to a few of the de-affiliated schools, Dr. Acharya confirms that they lacked everything from students to classrooms and amenities.

Aware of the danger posed to K-12 education by dummy institutions, on October 9, CBSE issued a circular ordering strict compliance with attendance rules by affiliated schools. “All schools must adhere strictly to Rules 13 and 14 of the CBSE Examination Bye-Laws regarding student attendance for students to qualify to write class X and XII board examinations. As per the board’s regulations, minimum of 75 percent attendance is mandatory for students to be eligible to appear for board examinations. The board offers a 25 percent relaxation only in cases of exigencies such as medical emergencies, participation in national or international sports events, and other serious reasons, provided the necessary documentation is submitted.”

Following the prolonged closure of schools during the Covid-19 pandemic (2020-21) when online tuition became popular and mandatory for upscale private schools, the coaching/test prep industry received a huge boost. With capacity expansion in higher education not keeping pace with demand — especially of high-quality undergrad colleges — the dummy schools phenomenon is assuming pandemic proportions.