The Page Every CBSE School Must Publish: How to Verify a School Before Admission
CBSE makes every affiliated school publish its affiliation letter, fee structure, safety certificates, teacher numbers and three years of board results on its own website. What the Mandatory Public Disclosure page contains, the five checks that matter most, and how to cross-check CBSE, IB and Cambridge claims in official directories.
Before you pay an admission fee, there is a page on the school's own website that can answer half your questions. Every school affiliated to CBSE is required to run a Mandatory Public Disclosure page: its affiliation letter, fee structure, safety certificates, teacher numbers and three years of board results, published where any parent can read them. Here is what the page must contain, how to use it, and how to run the same kind of check on IB and Cambridge schools. The official sources are linked at the end.
What CBSE makes every affiliated school publish
CBSE's affiliation framework includes an appendix called Mandatory Public Disclosure. It lists what an affiliated school has to put on its website, uploaded as self attested copies by the school's chairman, manager or secretary and the principal. The document adds that if the uploaded papers later turn out to be not genuine, the school is liable for action. The list has five parts:
| Part | What the school must publish | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| General information | School name, affiliation number, school code, full address, principal's name and qualifications, email and contact numbers | The school's official identity and its CBSE affiliation number |
| Documents | Affiliation or upgradation letter with the latest extension, society, trust or company registration, state NOC, RTE recognition certificate, building safety certificate as per the National Building Code, fire safety certificate, and water, health and sanitation certificates | That the school is legally recognised and its building is certified safe |
| Results and academics | Fee structure, annual academic calendar, school management committee list, parent teacher association members, and the last three years of Class X and XII board results | The declared fee and the school's actual academic record |
| Staff | Principal details, total teachers by level (PGT, TGT, PRT), teacher to section ratio, special educator, and counsellor or wellness teacher | How many teachers your child will actually have |
| Infrastructure | Campus area, number and size of classrooms and labs, internet facility, toilet counts, and a YouTube video of the school's inspection covering its infrastructure | Whether the campus matches the brochure |
The five checks that matter most
The full page has dozens of fields. On a first pass, five of them carry most of the weight:
- 1The affiliation letter and number. The school must upload its affiliation or upgradation letter and the most recent extension. Note the affiliation number and check how current the extension is. An old letter with no recent extension deserves a direct question.
- 2The official fee structure. This is the fee the school has declared on record. If the office quotes you something meaningfully different, ask why before you pay anything. Our school fees guide shows how to read a fee sheet line by line.
- 3The safety certificates. Look for a valid building safety certificate as per the National Building Code, a fire safety certificate, and water, health and sanitation certificates. These are dated documents with validity periods, not one time paperwork.
- 4Teacher numbers and the teacher to section ratio. The disclosure lists total teaching staff by level and the ratio of teachers to sections. That ratio is a more honest number than any class size promise made on a school tour.
- 5Three years of board results. The school must publish its Class X and XII results for the last three years: how many students appeared, how many passed, and the pass percentage. You can read the trend yourself instead of hearing about one good year.
Cross-check the affiliation number on CBSE's SARAS portal
Do not stop at the school's own page. CBSE runs its affiliation work on a public portal called SARAS, which hosts the board's directory of affiliated schools. Search the school's name or affiliation number there. The name, location and affiliation number on SARAS should match what the disclosure page says. If the school is missing from the directory, or the details differ, raise it with the school office before you go further.
Not a CBSE school? IB and Cambridge have directories too
The same idea works for the international boards, except the public check is a directory rather than a disclosure page:
- IB: the International Baccalaureate's Find an IB World School directory lists every school authorised to offer an IB programme, programme by programme. A school can be authorised for the Primary Years Programme but not the Diploma Programme, so check the specific programme your child would join. Our guide to checking IB school claims walks through the steps.
- Cambridge: Cambridge International's Find a Cambridge school directory lists the more than 10,000 schools worldwide registered with it, and our Cambridge board guide explains what registration for each stage means. If a school that calls itself Cambridge is not listed, ask what exactly it is registered for.
Marketing words like "CBSE pattern", "IB aligned" or "Cambridge style" are not the same as appearing in the board's own registry. Only the registry entry counts.
When the page is missing or something does not add up
If a CBSE affiliated school has no Mandatory Public Disclosure page, or the page exists but the documents on it are old, that itself is information. Affiliation letters come up for extension and safety certificates have validity periods, so the disclosure is meant to hold current documents.
- Ask the school office for the affiliation number and the latest extension letter. A school that has them will share them.
- Compare the declared fee structure with everything you are being asked to pay, including one time charges.
- If the school does not appear in the board's official directory, ask for its exact recognition status before paying an admission fee.
A good school will not mind these questions. The disclosure framework exists so that parents do not have to take a brochure's word for anything, and our school admission steps guide covers the wider checks that apply to every board.
Practical tip
Fifteen minutes before you pay: open the school's website and find its Mandatory Public Disclosure page, note the affiliation number and the declared fee structure, then match the school on CBSE's SARAS portal. Three tabs, and you walk into the admission office better informed than most conversations assume.
Sources and what they establish
CBSE Mandatory Public Disclosure (Appendix IX)
The official list of what every CBSE affiliated school must publish on its website: general information, documents, results and academics, staff and infrastructure, uploaded as self attested copies by the school's management and principal, with action prescribed if the uploaded documents are not genuine.
CBSE's SARAS portal
CBSE's affiliation system portal, which hosts the public directory of affiliated schools used to cross-check a school's name, location and affiliation number.
IB and Cambridge school directories
The official directories for verifying international board claims: every authorised IB World School listed programme by programme, and every registered Cambridge school across more than 10,000 schools worldwide.