The words on school forms, explained.
What each term means, where you meet it, and what the school office has to do about it. Each page lists its sources.
- UDISE+The Ministry of Education’s online system where schools report their students, teachers and facilities each year.
- UDISE codeThe 11-digit number that identifies a school on UDISE+; older forms call it the DISE code.
- APAAR IDA student’s 12-digit academic ID, generated against their PEN on UDISE+ and kept in DigiLocker.
- Bonafide certificateA letter from the school confirming that a student studies there, asked for by scholarship schemes and other offices.
- School leaving certificateThe certificate a school gives a student who leaves; another name for the transfer certificate (TC).
- Migration certificateThe certificate a board or university issues so a student can study under another board or university.
- Scholar registerThe school’s register of every student it admits, also called the admission register or SR register.
- Admission numberThe number a school gives a student at admission, against their entry in the admission register.
- CBSE affiliation numberThe number CBSE gives a school when it affiliates it; it differs from the school’s CBSE school code.
- RTE 25% quotaThe seats, at least 25% of the entry class, that private unaided schools must give to children from weaker and disadvantaged groups under the RTE Act.
- Co-scholastic areasThe report-card grades for work education, art, and health and physical education, given beside the marks for subjects.
- 5+3+3+4 structureThe school stages NEP 2020 sets out: foundational, preparatory, middle and secondary, for ages 3 to 18.
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