There are more to establishing school(s) in India than setting up a building with classrooms, laboratories, and libraries.

The entity willing to establish the school needs to get licenses and permissions from relevant authorities. This is a long process which usually takes a couple of years. Under normal circumstances, it takes a year to start the school’s construction after creating the governing body but, it often takes more than a couple of years as well.

The infrastructure for the school can be completed within a period of 6-7 months following which the school authorities have to make applications for recognition.

Till Class V, the approval provided by the municipality is sufficient but, for classes VI-VIII the Department of Education  provides the required consent, which also provides recognition for the higher classes.

Application for recognition with respect to the latter stages must be made within 2 years.

School authorities can also get approval from CISCE or CBSE but they will have to follow the guidelines laid down by these boards with respect to curricula, text books, and salaries.

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Registration Of A School

As per laws, private organizations cannot open schools in India so as to ensure that the expedience of education does not happen with a profit making motive.

For this purpose, it has been promulgated by law that schools have to be operated by a society that has been created in accordance with the Societies Act of 1860 or by a trust that has been organized as per the Public Trust Act of individual states.

A private entity willing to set up a school in India can also set up a company as prescribed by Section 8 of the Companies Act 2013.

All the legislation ensure that an educational institution is set up as a non profit making body and has been created solely for the purpose of promoting education and knowledge in the sphere of life.
The laws states that the entity willing to open the institution needs to create a society or trust- along with a governing board that has five to six members.

The board should have a president, a secretary, and a chairman- who are officially announced.

Procurement Of Land For School

In case a member of a school’s governing body has his or her own land and wants to build the institute over there, that individual will be required to get an NOC from the concerned state’s Department of Education.

The applicants are required to state the requirement of a educational institute in the area where they want to set the school up in the application for the NOC.

For the purchase of land from the government- for the school- it will be required to procure a no-objection certificate referred to as the Essentiality Certificate (EC) from the concerned state’s Department of Education.

An EC is an essential document certifying the requirement of a institute in the particular zone on the basis of which land is allotted to the society for the purpose of building a new school.

The Department of Education (DOE) decides the need for a school in a particular zone. By restricting the supply of schools in an area, it restricts the role of the market in assessing the demand for school education.

Within 3 years of obtaining the certificate, the construction of the school has to commence- failing in which the society has to apply for renewal.

An EC is granted after certifying- the non-proprietary nature of the society, the financial status of the society, the association of members.

The society needs to obtain a “letter of sponsorship” from the DoE. This is forwarded to one of the land owning agencies, like the Municipal corporation of the area, and the land is sold at subsidized rates by the land owning agency.

There are strict norms that have been laid down by the leading educational boards of India such as- the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), the state government boards, and the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE).

One of these rules states that the schools should have a playground.

Affiliation Of A School

Normally, provisional affiliation is provided for classes 1-6 and the guidelines are provided by the concerned education board.

An inspection is conducted once all the facilities are in place and permanent affiliation is given after the inspectors are satisfied with the facilities. An educational institution needs to apply for affiliation with CBSE.

Only on affiliation with CBSE can the students of the particular school appear for public examinations. In order to get affiliated, the school needs to follow the prescribed syllabi and books (NCERT)

Important documents and licenses required while starting an institute-

In India a lot of legal processes come into play with regard to starting a school.             When the school trust or society is being formed, there should be a Memorandum of Association. This document proves to be useful at all the later stages.

The owners also need to have a well laid out project report of their institute.

The following details are regarded as being important as well-

Name of license

• Registration Certificate of Society – Societies Recognition Act, 1860,
• Essentiality Certificate DoE,
• Certificate of Recognition MCD/ DoE,
• Certificate of Upgradation DoE,
• Certificate of Affiliation CBSE,
• Certificate of MCD MCD,
• Affidavit regarding proper purchase of land and no violation of master plan in the land used,
• MCD/Development Authority of the Concerned State,
• Site Plan of the Building/Sanctioned Building Plan approved by MCD/DDA,
• Building Fitness Certificate MCD,
• Health Certificate MCD,
• Water Testing Report The water board of the concerned state,
• Completion Certificate DDA,
• Duly approved Scheme of Management DoE,
• No Loan Certificate against FD issued by the bank Bank,
• Land Use Permitted Certificate (in case of rented land) Landlord.

Documents to be submitted

Along with the application for EC a fee of Rs. 500/- and a set of documents are to be submitted.

• Memorandum of Association,
• Affidavit regarding relationship of society members,
• Copy of Reserve Fund for Rs. 2 lakhs from the bank,
• Affidavit from management regarding proper operation of school, as per Delhi School Education Rules, 1973,
• Undertaking regarding fees and other charges,
• List of members of society with full particulars,
• Details of land and building,
• Project report of proposed school,
• Experience of society/members in the field of education,
• Scheme of Management,
• Documents regarding ownership of land allotted to school,
• Auditor’s statement of account(s),
• Staff statement as Performa,
• Rates of fee and other fund charges,
• Enrollment of students.

This’s all about School Licensing And Registration Needs for now. Did you find this post useful? Let us know in the comments section. Don’t forget to Share!!

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