All the formal schools in India are affiliated to one of the various school boards available which are responsible for managing the school education. In India, you can choose from a variety of national & international boards other than the respective state boards. These are CBSE, CISCE and IBO. In case you are planning to open an English medium school, you can choose from any of these boards. CISCE board allows affiliation strictly to English medium schools whereas; CBSE provides affiliation to both English as well as Hindi medium schools. However, it is mandatory for a school to follow certain norms that are laid down by these boards under the affiliation Bye-laws.

Here is a detailed discussion of all the rules and norms laid down by these various boards.

CBSE

Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is the most popular board which provides education to a wide network of schools across India. It conducts AISSE (All India Secondary School Examination) for class 10 and AISSCE (All India Senior School Certificate Examination) for class 12.

The following types of schools are eligible for affiliation with CBSE:

Government schools
Schools run by government department like Railways, Defense etc.
Private, unaided schools
Schools run by organizations like Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS), Sainik Schools
Society, Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS) etc.

The schools seeking affiliation from CBSE must fulfill the following essential requirements:

The school must have a land area of about 2 acres, on a part of which the building must be constructed and a proper playground on the remaining part.
The classrooms must be built in a minimum area of about 500 sq. ft.
The school must have well equipped Math, Computer and Science labs. In addition to this, proper provisions must be made for separate lab for Physics, Chemistry & Biology.
The school must pay salaries and deliver allowances to its staff in accordance with the pay scale prescribed by the Government of India.
The school must admit students without making any discrimination on the basis of caste, creed and colour.
Proper provisions must be made for the safety, sanitation and safe drinking water.
The school must implement the education system based on Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) up to 8th standard. And, provisions must be made for the proper management of internal assessments and maintenance of academic records.
The school must provide proper facilities for physically challenged students.

CISCE

Council of Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) is a private body which conducts three examinations, namely – ICSE (Indian Certificate of Secondary Education), for class 10, ISC (Indian School Certificate), for class 12 and CVE (Certificate for Vocational Education) which prepare students for various occupations.

The schools seeking affiliation to CISCE should fulfill the following conditions:

The school must be run by a registered Trust/Society with a financially stable & properly constituted governing body.
The medium of instruction in the school must only be English.
The school must recruit a qualified staff as prescribed by the council and the salaries & admissible allowances paid should not be less than those of the state government schools.
The school must pay special attention to extra-curricular activities such as physical education, dance and music and proper provisions must be made for the same.
The school must have a spacious and well-ventilated library equipped with quality books, encyclopedias, educational magazines and newspapers.
Proper provisions must be made for cleanliness of the school building as well as the playground.
The school must also provide services like school doctors, availability of trained nurses in school and first-aid equipments.
There must be separate labs for Science, Math and Computers. Each equipped with their respective apparatus & equipment.
The school must maintain proper record of the attendance, examinations and results of the students and these records should be made available to the council at the time of inspection.

IBO

International Baccalaureate (IB) is a non-profit educational institution that enables the school to offer international certifications instead of the regular offering of CBSE or CISCE. The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) offers three different programs, namely – PYP (Primary Years Programme) for kindergarten to 5th grade, MYP (Middle Years Programme) for grades 6th to 10th and DP (Diploma Programme) for higher grades.

The school must be registered as a legal entity and must have the required permissions & licenses from the concerned authorities that certify that the school is fit for providing educational services.
A new school applying for affiliation should have been in existence for minimum 3 years.
In case the school is divided into multiple campuses, they must be regarded as one unit and only one person must be responsible for the educational leadership in all the campuses.
The school must include one of the IB working languages (English, Spanish or French) in its curriculum.
The school must provide a qualified staff to implement the programme.
The school must make provisions for specialized equipment & resources to support the implementation of programme.
Regular and systematic sessions must be organized for the teachers for a collaborative planning regarding the assessment of students’ work and learning.
The school must maintain a proper system for recording students’ progress.

So, these are some affiliation options that you can choose from while opening a school. The essentialities mentioned above needs to be fulfilled. However, if the school fails to fulfill any of these requirements, it will lead to the rejection of the affiliation. Moreover, the entire procedure of getting affiliation is cumbersome. So, it is advisable to opt for a school franchise.

SHEMFORD Group of Schools is one of the most trusted brands that offer fruitful franchise to the people who are willing to enter the education sector. The SHEMFORD educationists work continuously on upgrading the teaching methodologies, resources and curriculum for the holistic development of students. So, save yourself from all the trouble by getting associated with SHEMFORD – a brand to reckon with!