What the requirement is
The affiliation bye-laws require an affiliated school to maintain a website and to display on it, under a clearly labelled mandatory public disclosure, the information the board specifies in its prescribed format. The same information is uploaded to the board's affiliation portal. The current bye-laws, the prescribed format and the board's circulars are the authority; the format has been revised, and a school should work from the current one rather than from a page copied from another school.
The purpose is transparency: a parent, the board or an inspection committee should be able to see who runs the school, on what authority, with what staff and facilities, at what fees, and with what results, without asking. A disclosure that is complete and current is also the fastest way through the document stage of any affiliation process.
The five sections, in outline
The prescribed format has run to five parts. The headings below are the shape; the format gives the exact fields.
- General information: the school's name, affiliation number and school code, full address, the trust or society that runs it, the principal's name and qualifications, and the school's contact details.
- Documents and information: copies of the affiliation or upgrade letter, the society or trust registration, the state no-objection certificate, recognition where applicable, the building safety certificate, the fire safety certificate, the self-certification or education officer's certificate, and the water, health and sanitation certificate.
- Results and academics: the fee structure, the annual academic calendar, the list of school management committee members, the list of parent-teacher association members, and the last three years' Class 10 and Class 12 results.
- Staff: the principal, the total number of teachers with the breakdown by category, the teacher-to-section ratio, and details of special educators and counsellors.
- School infrastructure: the campus area, the number and size of classrooms, laboratories, internet and library facilities, and the number of toilets for girls and boys.
The documents that expire
Most of the trouble with the disclosure comes from the documents section, because several of the certificates carry dates. A building safety certificate, a fire safety certificate and a health and sanitation certificate each lapse on a schedule set by the issuing authority, and a disclosure that shows an expired certificate is, to the board, a school that has not renewed it. Keep a register of every certificate with its expiry and the office that issues it, renew ahead of time, and replace the copy on the website the day the new one arrives.
Results, fees and the calendar
The results table asks for the number of students registered, the number who passed and the pass percentage for the last three years, for each board class. It should be updated within days of the board's results each year, and it should reconcile with what the school reports elsewhere. The fee structure must match what families are actually charged, by class and by component; a disclosure that shows one figure and an admission letter that shows another is a complaint waiting to be filed. The academic calendar is the year's, not last year's.
Keeping it current: a routine
The disclosure fails through neglect rather than intent. A short routine keeps it right.
- One named owner, usually the administrative officer, with the principal as the approver.
- A certificate register with expiry dates and a renewal reminder six months ahead.
- A calendar of updates: results in the week they are declared, the fee structure and calendar before the session opens, staff and committee lists each term.
- A quarterly read-through against the current prescribed format, checking every field and every link.
- The same information uploaded to the board's portal whenever the website changes, so the two never disagree.
Common findings
When the board or an inspection committee reviews disclosures, the findings repeat.
- The disclosure page exists but is not linked from the home page, or is buried where a parent cannot find it.
- Certificates uploaded as unreadable scans, or the wrong document behind a link.
- Results for two years instead of three, or last year's missing.
- A staff list that does not match the teacher records the school submitted for affiliation.
- A fee structure that differs from the school's own admission documents.
- Fields left blank because the school did not have the figure to hand, where a figure was required.
