Officials of the CBSE said that the board is restructuring the affiliation system for schools and making the process completely digital and based on data analytics with least human intervention.

The new system of the Central Board of Secondary Education will be introduced from March 1, as per various recommendations for systemic reforms laid down in the new National Education Policy (NEP).

“The board is restructuring the affiliation system and process as per recommendations of education reforms in the NEP. Although the CBSE affiliation system has been online since 2006, the restructured system will be completely digital and based on data analytics with least human intervention,” CBSE secretary Anurag Tripathi said.

“The restructuring will help in establishing ease of doing business in the CBSE affiliation system, attaining the goal of minimum government, maximum governance, automated and data driven decisions, achieve transparency, bring more accountability in the entire systemic processes and achieve quick and time-bound disposal of all applications,” he added.

Tripathi said the board will soon come out with detailed guidelines on the restructured system.

“A detailed document on the CBSE affiliation system containing the restructured online procedure for affiliation, documents required for affiliation application, modalities and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for inspection, guidelines for the inspection committee, videos for various processes, will be released soon,” he said.

The board has also revised timelines for the application process as per the restructured system.

As per the revised timeline, every year the application window for fresh affiliation and upgradation of affiliation will open three times -March 1 to 31, June 1 to 30 and September 1 to 30.

“The application for extension of affiliation will be accepted from March 1 to May 31 every year. Other applications such as those for additional subjects, section increase, change of name of school, change of society or trust, will be accepted through the year,” Tripathi said.

Procuring digital signatures of a school from authorised service provider or AADHAAR-based signatures; uploading mandatory documents such as no objection certificate, land certificate, safety certificate and certificate by district education officer, are among the prerequisites for application for affiliation.

“After the online submission of application, details submitted by the school will be analysed in accordance with the CBSE by-laws and inspection committee will be constituted immediately for the purpose of inspection. Schools will be able to get inspection done on any of the dates mentioned in the letter,” he said.

The CBSE had introduced a facility for virtual inspection of schools for upgradation of affiliation in August last year in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. The board is also in the process of setting up a facilitation centre to address queries, and problems of schools and inspection committees related to the virtual inspection.

The board had revamped its norms in 2018 for granting affiliation to schools, leaving the onus of the infrastructural audit on states and limiting its own role to academic quality monitoring.

The CBSE has 24,930 schools affiliated to it across the country and abroad, with over 2 crore students and more than 10 lakh teachers. The affiliation by-laws were formulated in the year 1998.