CBSE 2026: Meet attendance rules; do not submit non-attending student details

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) announced on October 16, 2026, that it will conduct surprise inspections of affiliated schools. This initiative follows concerns raised by the Central Information Commission (CIC) regarding alleged dummy admissions and the need to ensure compliance with mandatory attendance rules for students appearing in the CBSE 2026 board examinations.

The Board has instructed schools not to submit details for students who do not meet the minimum attendance requirements for the upcoming board examination. This move aims to combat the proliferation of ‘dummy schools’, where students often enrol to focus on competitive entrance exam coaching while benefiting from state-specific quotas.

CIC Recommendation and Attendance Norms

The Central Information Commission (CIC) recommended these surprise inspections of CBSE-affiliated schools in a recent order. Information Commissioner Sudha Rani Relangi made the recommendation after a complaint alleged that schools were issuing dummy certificates to students who did not attend classes regularly.

The complaint was filed by an RTI applicant seeking information about attendance requirements at private missionary schools in Bhopal. The CBSE’s central public information officer initially returned the application, citing an error in the Indian Postal Order. However, the CBSE later submitted a point-wise reply, citing its Affiliation Bye-Laws, 2018, which explicitly bar affiliated schools from presenting students for board examinations if they have not attended classes regularly or do not meet the prescribed minimum attendance requirement.

“The Commission, considering the gravity of the issue flagged by the complainant seeking information regarding issuance of dummy certificates by schools to students not attending classes, deems it fit to recommend the CBSE under Section 25(5) of the RTI Act, 2005 to exercise the power of conducting a surprise inspection,” said Information Commissioner Sudha Rani Relangi. The Central Information Commission also noted, “Denial of information on technicality is not in the spirit of the RTI Act, 2005.”

Previous Inspection Drives and Actions Taken

This is not the first instance of CBSE conducting such inspections. On September 3, 2024, the Board carried out surprise inspections across Rajasthan and Delhi, inspecting 27 affiliated schools. The objective was to ascertain compliance with norms of regular attendance of students. Following these inspections, Show Cause Notices were issued to schools, allowing 30 days to respond.

Based on inspection findings and video-graphic evidence, the CBSE took significant action on November 6, 2024. Affiliation was withdrawn from 21 schools, and 6 schools were downgraded from Senior Secondary to Secondary level. The list of affected schools is provided below:

Synchronised Inspections in 2025

Further demonstrating its commitment to addressing these issues, CBSE conducted another round of surprise inspections on August 1, 2025. These inspections covered 15 schools across seven states and Union Territories, including Delhi, Chandigarh, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.

For these inspections, 15 teams, each comprising a Board officer and a principal of an affiliated school, were deployed. A senior board official stated, “All of the inspections were executed in a synchronised manner at the same time in a short window to ensure that the surprise element remains intact so as to get accurate information about working and operations of the schools, which were inspected on their respective dates of inspection.” The primary objective of these 2025 inspections was to ascertain whether schools were functioning in compliance with Board norms and not enrolling non-attending students.

Written by Nishit Kumar

Nishit Kumar is a senior EdTech industry leader with over a decade of experience in building and scaling education platforms, shaping their product, content, and growth strategy. At FindMyCollege, Nishit oversees content and editorial strategy, guiding topic selection and content frameworks to ensure accuracy, relevance, and student-first value across the website.

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