CBSE Set to Bar 'Dummy School' Students From Class 12 Exams

Students attending "dummy schools" — where pupils are enrolled on paper but skip regular classes to focus on private coaching for engineering and medical entrance examinations — will not be allowed to appear for Class 12 Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) board examinations from next year, officials said on Thursday.

- Sanjay Maurya and Senjuti Sengupta

The board is planning to amend its exam bye-laws to prohibit such students from appearing in the board exams, requiring them to take the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) exam instead.

The decision will hold significant bearing on Kota, India's most prominent coaching hub, particularly for students preparing for prestigious engineering and medical entrance exams like JEE and NEET.

Although there is no exact figure on the number of dummy schools running in Kota, an official said that most of the around 150,000 students enrolled in various coaching centres in the city were admitted to a dummy school. On November 6 last year, at least three schools in Kota were identified as dummy schools by CBSE and their registrations were cancelled.

The decision comes after the CBSE's governing body, in its meeting held on December 26, 2024, approved the examination committee's recommendation to bar students from board exams if they are found absent or not attending during surprise inspections.