CBSE disaffiliates 20 schools for enrolling dummy students; 5 of them in Delhi, 3 in UP

New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has disaffiliated 20 schools, including five in Delhi, for enrolling dummy students and ineligible candidates, its secretary Himanshu Gupta said on Friday.

The board has also downgraded the affiliation of three schools.

"Pursuant to a surprise inspection conducted in CBSE schools across the country to check whether the schools are running according to the provisions and norms contained in the affiliation and examination bye-laws, it was found that some schools were committing various malpractices of presenting dummy students, ineligible candidates and not maintaining records properly," Gupta said.

"After a thorough inquiry, it has been decided to disaffiliate 20 schools and downgrade three schools," he added.

Five of the disaffiliated schools are in Delhi, three in Uttar Pradesh, two each in Kerala, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, and one each is in Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Assam and Madhya Pradesh.

The schools with downgraded affiliation are in Delhi, Punjab and Assam.

The disaffiliated schools include Sidhhartha Public School, Bharat Mata Saraswati Bal Mandir, National Public School, Chand Ram Public Senior Secondary School and Marigold Public School in Delhi, Loyal Public School (Bulandshahr), Trinity World School (Gautam Buddh Nagar), Crescent Convent School (Ghazipur) in Uttar Pradesh, Prince UCH Madhyamik Vidyalaya (Sikar) and Global Indian International School, (Jodhpur) in Rajasthan.

Dronacharya Public School and Vicon School in Chhattisgarh's Raipur, Rahul International School (Thane) and Pioneer Public School (Pune) in Maharashtra, Peevees Public School (Malappuram) and Mother Theresa Memorial Central School (Thiruvananthapuram) in Kerala, Sai RNS Academy in Assam's Guwahati, Sardar Patel Public School (Bhopal) in Madhya Pradesh, Kartar Public School (Kathua) in Jammu and Kashmir and Gyan Einstein International School (Dehradun) in Uttarakhand are also on the list.

The schools with downgraded affiliation are -- The Vivekanand School in Delhi, Sri Dasmesh Senior Secondary Public School in Punjab's Bhatinda and Sreeram Academy in Assam's Barpeta.

Scores of students preparing for engineering and medical entrance exams prefer to take admission in dummy schools so that they can focus solely on their preparations for the competitive exams. They do not attend classes and straightaway appear in the board exams.

Aspirants also choose dummy schools keeping in mind the quota in medical and engineering institutes available for the students from certain states. For example, the candidates who have completed Classes 11 and 12 in Delhi are considered for admission in the medical colleges of the national capital under the Delhi State Quota.

With the number of suicides among competitive exam aspirants in Rajasthan's Kota touching a record high last year, experts have been warning against the concept of "dummy schools", saying students staying away from regular schools early often struggle with restricted personality development and growth.

The issue was also flagged by former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot last year in the wake of a rising number of student suicides. Gehlot had referred to dummy schools as "fake schools".

"Students of classes 9 and 10 are enrolled in coaching institutes. You are committing a crime in a way. As if the IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) is the god. As soon as students come to these coaching institutes, they are enrolled in fake schools," the veteran Congress leader had said.

In a recent interview with PTI, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan also said the issue of dummy schools cannot be ignored anymore.

"Although the number of such students is not very high compared to the total number of students ... but the time has come to have serious discussions and deliberations on the subject," Pradhan had said.