1) schools have to be operated by a society that has been created in accordance with the Societies Act of 1860 or by a trust that has been organized as per the Public Trust Act of individual states.

2) 

A private entity willing to set up a school in India can also set up a company as prescribed by Section 8 of the Companies Act 2013.

3) 

For the purchase of land from the government- for the school- it will be required to procure a no-objection certificate referred to as the Essentiality Certificate (EC) from the concerned state’s Department of Education.

4) Within 3 years of obtaining the certificate, the construction of the school has to commence- failing in which the society has to apply for renewal.

5) school should have a playground 

A society has to be formed as per the society registration act, 1860. No . Members in the management should be decided. The necessary infrastructure should be provided. Also no.  teaching staff. No. Of students to be admitted.

Affiliation from any board is necessary. Yes , RTE shall be applicable.

You have not stated that what kind of school you are going to start. whether pre school or pre primary or secondary school. You should read Rules and regulations of Concerned State.If you want to start secondary school you should go to District Education office and Department of education of your state. They will give information and form of application to start school. You may fill these forms and comply requirements 

You have to follow all rules of UGC, State Education and Central education rules to run the school legally. Plus trust as per the trust act. and school own building, ground, qualified teachers etc.

provisional affiliation is provided for classes 1-6 and the guidelines are provided by the concerned education board.

2) after an inspection by the inspection committee of the board visits the school and makes recommendations for permanent affiliation 

3) State government has informed the Kerala high court that students of un recognised schools can join govt schools without transfer certificate 

4) you don’t need NOC for issue of transfer certificate 

A TC can be given by you after you obtain an affiliation from tge biard and the school is recognized by the state Government.

Starting a school in India is a venture many like to explore. Owing to the state policies regarding private schools which involves securing multiple licenses and permissions, opening a school can turn unduly strenuous.

The private school venture, both in terms of establishment and gaining  investment returns, highly depends on the policies formulated by Ministry of Human Resource Development and states’ education department. School establishment and recognition laws in India are made by both the states and the center and certain facets may change from one state to another.

First you Decide the type of the school you want to start;

To start a private school, association with either a trust or society or a section 8 company is a must. It can be a pre-existing trust or society or can be a newly formed one.   A trust or society operating a school in states of India must be registered under the state’s Trust Act or Indian Societies Registration Act 1860.

Land for establishing a school can be purchased or leased. If the school promoters already possess a land, they must get it approved for educational use by municipal and the education department of the concerned state. The minimum size of land required depends upon the type of school, the location i.e. rural, urban and its location relative to the city limit. Also, different boards have their own minimum land area requirements.

School building plan must be approved by the state board and if the plan is to gain national board affiliation, respective bye-laws must be kept in mind. 

There must be a clearly defined and drafted institutional mission and vision. The guiding principles and philosophy of the new school are outlined in the vision and mission statement clarifying the relevance of the school in terms of community where from the students are drawn.

It is mandatory for a new school to have State Board recognition/affiliation. State board affiliation is granted if the NOC to use the land for the educational purpose, school infrastructure, amenities for children and staff as recommended are in place. 

A primary school will not be affiliated to any board of education. It should have the recognition form the State/UT department of education.

In case the school promoter starts a school till class VIII or higher, he/she has to get affiliation from the state board. A state board school can eventually apply for secondary and/or senior secondary affiliation from CBSE, CISCE, IB or IGCSE.

In pre primary or preschool there are no regulations or affiliation. But in case of primary or upper primary you need affiliation with educational dept

1. you need to form a trust/society to start school

2. RTE shall be applicable

3. since you are going to start the school up to 6 standard, therefore, you are required to obtain affiliation from one education board,

4. other rules/regulations to follow are like qualified staff, standard PayScale, Amenities to students like playground, classroom, construction of the building following all applicable laws,  

primary school will not be affiliated to any board of education. It should have the recognition form the State department of education.

Dear Sir,

The private school venture, both in terms of establishment and gaining  investment returns, highly depends on the policies formulated by Ministry of Human Resource Development and states’ education department. School establishment and recognition laws in India are made by both the states and the center and certain facets may change from one state to another.

The process of opening a private school is pretty direct but it involves several steps and components which demand time and dedicated resources. A set of principles must be followed to set up a new school successfully.
The guidelines for starting a private school in India are explained as under —

1.Decide the type of the school you want to start

The school can be a Playschool, Pre- Primary, Primary, Secondary or K-12. At this point, one has to decide how many grades would there be in the beginning. School promoters can decide to start the school with a small number of grades with a vision of increasing the number with time or they may plan to launch the school with both lower and higher grades.

A primary school will not be affiliated to any board of education. It should have the recognition form the State/UT department of education. After the primary school starts running class V, it can apply for approval for Middle Class  Syllabus form Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and start class VI to VIII. School promoters can also choose to start an International Baccalaureate (IB) School or ICSE school. In every case the school has to be started first and then attempts for affiliating it to any given board has to be made.

In case the school promoter starts a school till class VIII or higher, he/she has to get affiliation from the state board. A state board school can eventually apply for secondary and/or senior secondary affiliation from CBSE, CISCE, IB or IGCSE.

2. Associate the school with a Trust or Society or Section 8 company

To start a private school, association with either a trust or society or a section 8 company is a must. It can be a pre-existing trust or society or can be a newly formed one.   A trust or society operating a school in states of India must be registered under the state’s Trust Act or Indian Societies Registration Act 1860. The trust or society thus established is not -for -profit organization. If a company is sponsoring the new school, it should be registered under section 8 of the Companies Act 2013.

The trust or a society has to have a minimum of three members to get registered. The said trust or society must comprise of a ‘School Governing Board’ with three officially declared members namely the President, Secretary, and Chairman. The board additionally has two or three other members. It is preferable for these members to have educational or social work credentials.

The school board must acquire a ‘Memorandum of Association’ from the educational trust.

3. Acquiring land or appropriating a Land for Establishing School

Land for establishing a school can be purchased or leased. If the school promoters already possess a land, they must get it approved for educational use by municipal and the education department of the concerned state. The minimum size of land required depends upon the type of school, the location i.e. rural, urban and its location relative to the city limit. Also, different boards have their own minimum land area requirements.

Before proceeding to procure land for the school the need of a new school in the given area must be recognized by the Department of Education (DoE) of the state. For this, the department issues an ‘Essentiality Certificate (EC)’. The certificate establishes that the new school is indeed essential for the area for which it is proposed and is not superfluous. This certificate is, in effect, the NOC for the school building construction. Municipal authority’s certification is also required. Other considerations include the environment that would host the school and availability of amenities that makes it fit for children like drinking water etc. After obtaining the EC construction must begin within 3 years or it expires. As education industry is characterized by its non –profit facet, the land being bought for the school building construction can be obtained from an agency at highly subsidized rates after a letter of sponsorship is acquired from the municipal authority.

For the convenience of school promoters an online school land and Infrastructure portal, “SchoolProp.com” is available, schoolprop.com facilitates the listing of land, Infrastructure and school buildings suitable for establishing schools ranging from playschool to senior secondary schools.

4. School Master Plan and School Architecture

School building plan must be approved by the state board and if the plan is to gain national board affiliation, respective bye-laws must be kept in mind. The specifications pertaining to the school architecture include the number of classrooms, library, offices, assembly hall, labs, facilities, auditorium and area of the playground/play area, for CBSE and ICSE schools the minimum land area is specified.

The blueprint of the school building facade and interior must be complete when the application for the state board affiliation is made.

5. Defining Mission and Vision of the School

There must be a clearly defined and drafted institutional mission and vision. The guiding principles and philosophy of the new school are outlined in the vision and mission statement clarifying the relevance of the school in terms of community wherefrom the students are drawn. The educational outcomes envisioned by the school and the curriculum orientation must be clearly delineated along with the method of assessment of the scholastic development of the students and school’s effectiveness. It is customary to define the social goals of the private school as an enterprise in the educational sector is seen in terms of its social dimensions.

6. Applying for Recognition and Affiliation

It is mandatory for a new school to have State Board recognition/affiliation. State board affiliation is granted if the NOC to use the land for the educational purpose, school infrastructure, amenities for children and staff as recommended are in place.  After the school is operational an application for provisional affiliation can be made to CBSE. In case an ICSE affiliation is desired, the time passed after school establishment and state recognition is more. The process of applying for affiliation must be according to the bye-laws of the board to which the application is to be made. A list of licenses and approvals that are to be annexed with the application can be obtained from the board’s website.  Initially, provisional affiliation is granted after an inspection by the inspection committee of the board visits the school and makes recommendations. In case any deficiency is found in the school, time is granted to remedy that. In case the affiliation is not granted, a reapplication has to be made after a year or more, depending on the board. We have written separate articles on how to secure affiliation from CBSE and ICSE. For knowing the procedure for starting a CBSE school, click here.

1. Documents and other Registration required to open a school are as follows. 

• School Registration

You would be surprised to know that as per Indian laws, private organizations cannot open schools in India, just to ensure education does not happen solely for profit.

The schools in India must be in accordance with the Societies Act of 1860 or by a trust that has been organized as per the Public Trust Act of individual states.

A private entity willing to set up a school in India can also set up a company as prescribed by Section 8 of the Companies Act 2013.

• Land For School

To build an educational institute school’s governing body must attain a NOC from the concerned state’s Department of Education.

On the other hand, the purchase of land from the government- for the school- will require to procure a no-objection certificate referred to as the Essentiality Certificate (EC)- which is an essential document certifying the requirement of a institute in the particular zone, and must take it from the concerned state’s Department of Education.

The Department of Education (DOE) has the authority to take the decision for a school in a particular zone.

The construction must commence within 3 years of obtaining the certificate, failing to which the society has to apply for renewal. The society needs to obtain a “letter of sponsorship” from the DoE.

• School Affiliation

The affiliation for the school requires the Online application, which can be further submitted for the :

• Approval of Middle Class Syllabus/Affiliation or Switch Over upto Secondary level/ Upgradation or Switch Over to Senior Secondary level
• Additional Subjects, applicable in case of already CBSE affiliated Senior Secondary schools.
• Extension of Provisional Affiliation in case of already CBSE affiliated school upto Secondary / Senior Secondary level.
• For non switch over cases, a school has to first affiliate itself with CBSE upto Secondary stage and run class IX for a minimum period of one year then applying for Upgradation to Senior Secondary level.
• Affiliation fee has to be deposited by online banking/ debit card/credit card/NEFT.
• Last date for submission of application is 30th June, of the year in which class VII, IX, XI is proposed to be started.
• The classes must not be started without prior affiliation with the Board.
• For the Extension cases, the schools who have missed the deadline last year can apply this year with late fee.
• For schools (applying late) who submit their application in January the late fees is Rs 20000, however from 1 February the late fee will be Rs 100000.

Once this application is submitted, then an inspection committee comes to conducting the detailed inspection matching the norms and condition, and on being satisfied with the facilities school affiliation is granted.

• Documents And Licenses Required

Undeniably in India law takes its place when a school comes into existence. There must be a Memorandum of Association when society is formed along with a couple of more documents..

• Registration Certificate of Society – Societies Recognition Act, 1860
• Essentiality Certificate DoE
• Certificate of Recognition MCD/ DoE
• Certificate of Upgradation DoE
• Certificate of Affiliation CBSE
• Certificate of MCD MCD
• Affidavit of land purchase
• MCD/Development Authority of the Concerned State
• Site Plan of the Building/Sanctioned Building Plan approved by MCD/DDA
• Building Fitness Certificate MCD
• Health Certificate MCD
• Water Testing Report from the water board
• Completion Certificate DDA
• Duly approved Scheme of Management DoE
• No Loan Certificate against FD issued by the bank
• Permitted Certificate (in case of rented land) Landlord

Documents To Be Submitted

• Memorandum of Association
• Affidavit of society members
• Copy of Reserve Fund for Rs. 2 lakhs from the bank
• An affidavit from management as per Delhi School Education Rules, 1973
• The undertaking of fees and other charges
• List of members of society with full details
• Details of land and building
• Project report of proposed school
• Experience of society/members in the field of education
• Scheme of Management
• Documents regarding ownership of land allotted to the school
• Auditor’s statement of account
• Staff statement as Performa
• Rates of fee and other fund charges
• Enrollment of students