How To Start A School In India

HOW TO START A SCHOOL IN INDIA

India currently holds the position of world’s fastest growing economy. The education system plays a
pivotal role in the development of this economy by improving the quality of human resource of the country.
According to EY, the modern education system in India has turned into a thriving business venture
which has lead to an increase in the private sector participation with an estimated student enrolment
of 40% in the private schools. While the enrolments at the elementary level account for approximately
35%, for the secondary level it reaches out to 50%. Most of the schools in private sector provide
education depending upon the annual student outcomes of higher education. Also, private sector schools
are more efficient in maintaining student attendance ratios and the length of the conduct of lectures.
This benefaction of access and quality has resulted in an enrolment shift towards private schools in
recent years, which has lead to a growth rate at a CAGR of 4% in the last five years.

Apart from the basics of starting a school like the creation of a blueprint and plan layout, the
establishment of the management committee, preparing for essential documents and working upon
suitable land allotment, it is highly recommendable to go through the stated norms of establishing an
institution of education.

CBSE: KEY NORMS AND PRESCRIBED STANDARDS

Entity format:

-Registered society.

-Trust.

-Section 25 company [provided that the state government pose no objection and institution should
only use funds for furthering education].

State approval:

-The applicant would need to submit an application to receive a NOC from the respective state government.

Minimum land:

-Minimum land of 2 acres (relaxed in exceptional cases such as 1 acre for cities with a population exceeding
15 lakhs, subject to arrangements imparting physical and health education).
-There is permission for leasing the land for a minimum of 30 years.

Built-up infrastructure:

-Norms have been specified in detail for classrooms, laboratories, etc.

Management:

-The management body entrusted with running the school should be of a non-proprietary character, and the
power of control should not be vested in the hands of a single individual or members of a single family.

Faculty:

-Teacher-Student ratio should be 1 : 30 at max.
-Minimum requirement of 1.5 teachers per section.

Fees:

-Fees should be at par the with facilities provided by the school.
-Fees should be charged under the prescribed head of authority by particular state education department
schools distributed among a wide range of categories.
-No donations of any sort or capitation fee should be acceptable.

STATE BOARDS: KEY NORMS & PRESCRIBED STANDARDS

Entity format:

-Not-for-profit entity formats such as registered societies and public trusts are generally permitted.
-Certain states such as Haryana also permit a non-profit company.

Registration and recognition:

-Detailed process prescribed for securing registration and subsequent recognition operation of a private
school in the state. E.g., Karnataka.

Minimum land:

-Certain states such as Haryana prescribe minimum land requirements for school, ranging from 0.5-2 acres
depending upon nature of school (primary, secondary etc).

Built-up infrastructure:

-Detailed minimum norms are prescribed for classrooms and other built-up infrastructure.

Admission:

-State prescribes rules on admissions, intake and student : teacher ratios.

Fees:

-In general, fee structures of schools required to be either approved by state government committees or
parent-teacher committees in school.


ICSE: CISCE KEY NORMS AND PRESCRIBED STANDARDS

Conditions for application

-The school should be entrusted with a NOC by the respective state government .
-The school should already have started class VI and affiliation must be done before the culmination
of class IX.

Registration of the institution

-Under section 25 of companies act 1956, only a registered trust or society is deemed eligible to
run a school.
-A managing committee should be held responsible for running of the school.
-The audit of the running society or trust should be conducted and balance sheet submitted along with the
application for affiliation.

Instruction medium

-The school should be English medium and should strictly comply with the CISCE scheme.

Land

-Appropriate infrastructure to accommodate the required numbers.
-All classes will be held in the prescribed premises.
-Minimum of 2000sq m of land should be allocated the the infrastructure

Teaching staff

-The teaching staff should adhere to the minimum qualifications stated.
-A written employment letter should be provided to each and every working employee.

Fees

-Fees should be at par the with facilities provided by the school.
-No donations of any sort or capitation fee should be acceptable.

IGCSE: KEY NORMS AND PRESCRIBED STANDARDS

Basic requirements:

-Specified objective and educational values.
-Effective institution management.
-Substantial environment

Application process

-Fan online application form needs to be filled specifying the details of your interest, qualifications
and eligibility.
-A detailed application then needs to be submitted to any nearby Cambridge centre.

Approval

-A delegate pays a visit to conduct inspection regarding the mentioned details in the application.

IB: KEY NORMS AND PRESCRIBED STANDARDS

Eligibility

-The school should have at least two succedent grades.

Coordination and communication

-A primary years programme (PYP) coordinator leads the further communication between the school and
the IB board.

Teachers and staff

-The school should comply with the mandatory educational qualifications of PYP teachers.

Student experience

-The school should ensure that the student experience is not forged with any gaps and is continuous in case
of  simultaneous IB programmes.

KEY CHALLENGES IN THE ESTABLISHMENT FACED BY THE PRIVATE SCHOOLS IN INDIA

1. Regulatory:
- Inflexible input based norms: regulatory requirements related to land and infrastructure makes it difficult
to start a school.
 - Complex regulatory framework: overlapping regulations needed for licenses and multiple approvals
(e.g., state NOC as prescribed by CBSE/ICSE schools, RTE directive to acquire State Regulator Approval etc)
make the process complex and time-consuming.
2.RTE impact
- Inadequate compensation by the government for 25% EWS: compensation is reckoned depending upon a
per child loss basis considering only recurring costs and not capital costs.
- Schools facing closure: many private schools are pushed to the verge of closure as they are unable to cohere
with the specified RTE norms and scale.
3.Financial:
- High capital cost: unavailability of land/high land cost is a vital deterrent.
- Inability to access equity funding: sources providing equity funding today are non-existent.
- The high upfront cost in initial years: debt servicing and various fee restrictions by states resulted in the arduous handling of operational costs, thus causing them to shut.

Though faced with multiple establishment constraints, there are 3,39,000 private schools in India with an enrolment of 100 million. The country still looks envisions a required number of private schools which amounts to approximately 1,30,000 to meet educational requirements of the growing young minds of the nation.