What is a CBSE affiliation number?

What the affiliation number means

A CBSE affiliation number is the number that identifies a school in CBSE’s affiliation records. A CBSE school also has a school code, and the two are different numbers. CBSE’s own forms ask for them separately: its transfer certificate format has one blank for the “Affiliation No.” and another for the “School Code”.¹

The mandatory public disclosure lists them as separate items too. Every affiliated school must upload it “at prominent place on the website”, under clause 2.4.9 of the Affiliation Bye-Laws, and its first items are the school’s name, “Affiliation No.” and “School Code”.² Neither of them is the school’s UDISE code, which comes from the Ministry of Education’s UDISE+ system, not from CBSE.

Where the school office meets it

• Every transfer certificate. CBSE’s TC format opens with the school’s name and address “as recorded in the affiliation branch of the Board”, then the affiliation number and school code.¹
• The school website. Both numbers head the general information in the mandatory public disclosure.²
• Board registration. For the class 9 and 11 registration for 2025-26, CBSE told schools to “use the ‘Affiliation Number’ as a user ID”, with the same password as on OASIS.³
• Parents checking the school. CBSE’s SARAS portal lists affiliated schools and can be searched by “Affiliation No./ School Code”; each result shows both numbers in one column.⁴

What the school has to do

1. Write both numbers down once, from CBSE’s own records, and give the list to everyone who fills forms.
2. Print both on the TC, in the right blanks, with the school name exactly as the affiliation branch has it.¹ The free transfer certificate maker has a place for each.
3. Check the website disclosure shows the same numbers.²
4. Look the school up on SARAS once a year and confirm the listing matches what you print.⁴

Common mistakes

• Swapping the two numbers. They sit next to each other on the TC, so it is easy to put each in the other’s blank.
• Writing the UDISE code instead. A CBSE form that asks for the affiliation number wants CBSE’s number, not the 11-digit UDISE code.
• Using a shortened school name. The TC asks for the name and address as recorded in CBSE’s affiliation branch.¹ A different name on the letterhead can make the receiving school doubt the certificate.
• A website that does not match the TC. Clause 2.4.9 also lists the transfer certificates issued among the things a school website should carry.² Keep the numbers and the name the same on both.

Related terms

• UDISE code: the school’s number on UDISE+, a separate system.
• School leaving certificate: the TC, which prints both CBSE numbers.
• Migration certificate: a certificate CBSE issues to the student, not the school.
• Co-scholastic areas: the CBSE report-card grades that sit beside subject marks.

Sources

1. CBSE, Examination Bye-Laws (2013 edition), Annexure-I, format of transfer certificate. Back to the text
2. CBSE, amendments to the Affiliation Bye-Laws 2018, Circular No. 03, 5 March 2021, Appendix IX, mandatory public disclosure. Back to the text
3. CBSE, submission of registration data for classes 9 and 11, 2025-26, paragraph 5. Back to the text
4. CBSE, SARAS list of affiliated schools. Back to the text