# What is a scholar register?

> The scholar register, or admission register, records every student a school admits. Who sets its format, the rules on corrections, and common errors.

_Source: https://scoolin.com/glossary/scholar-register_

_By Scoolin_

[Home](https://scoolin.com/) [Glossary](https://scoolin.com/glossary) Scholar register

[School glossary](https://scoolin.com/glossary)

The school’s register of every student it admits, also called the admission register or SR register.

## What a scholar register means

A scholar register is the school’s master record of admissions: every student who joins is entered in it, with their details and admission number, and their leaving is recorded against the same entry. It goes by several names. Scholar register, or SR register, is one; CBSE calls it the “Admission Register or Admission & Withdrawal Register”, a register “indicating the admission of candidates to various classes in the institution”.[1]

Its format is set by the state, not by the school or the board. CBSE’s bye-laws say the admission register is kept “in the form prescribed by the State Government concerned”, or by Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan or Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti for their schools, and that “the name of every student joining” the school is entered in it.[1] In Maharashtra, for example, the Secondary Schools Code calls it the General Register.[2]

## Where the school office meets it

- **At admission.** A child who studied elsewhere must bring a TC before their name can go into the register.[1]
- **On every certificate.** CBSE’s TC format asks for the date of birth “according to Admission & Withdrawal Register”.[1] Bonafide and character certificates draw on the same entry.
- **On UDISE+.** The student section of the UDISE+ data form asks for the admission number and admission date in the present school.[3] Both come from the register.
- **When someone asks for a correction.** Requests to change a name or date of birth come back to this entry, and the state’s rules decide what can change.

## What the school has to do

1. Use the format your state prescribes, or KVS or NVS where they apply.[1]
2. Give each student the next number in sequence at admission. CBSE’s bye-laws say each student keeps this number throughout their time at the school.[1] See [admission number](https://scoolin.com/glossary/admission-number).
3. Take the date of birth from the parent’s declaration and the proof given at admission, and enter it once, carefully.
4. Record each withdrawal against the same entry: the date of leaving and the TC number.
5. Follow your state’s rules for any correction. Madhya Pradesh’s Date of Birth (Entries in the School Register) Rules, 1973, for example, require the parent to declare the date of birth at first admission, have it registered under the head’s signature, and forbid any change without the competent authority’s sanction.[4]

Scoolin keeps each student’s admission number, admission date and TC number on their record, with a history of every change and who made it.

## Common mistakes

- **Overwriting an entry.** Changing a date of birth with a pen, without the order that allows it, is exactly what rules like Madhya Pradesh’s forbid.[4] An unexplained change also casts doubt on every certificate issued from the entry.
- **Giving a returning student a new number.** CBSE’s bye-laws say a student who comes back “after absence of any duration shall resume his original admission number”.[1]
- **Entering a child before the TC arrives.** For a student from another school, the TC comes first.[1]
- **Keeping a separate register for each class.** The register follows a student through the whole school, so one running sequence is easier to check than many.

## Related terms

- [Admission number](https://scoolin.com/glossary/admission-number): the student’s number in this register.
- [School leaving certificate](https://scoolin.com/glossary/school-leaving-certificate): the TC, which copies its details from the register.
- [Bonafide certificate](https://scoolin.com/glossary/bonafide-certificate): another certificate filled from the register.
- [UDISE+](https://scoolin.com/glossary/udise-plus): where the admission number and date are reported.

## Sources

1. CBSE, [Examination Bye-Laws](https://www.cbse.gov.in/cbsenew/bylawspdf/CBSE-Examination%20by%20Law%20Book_2013.pdf) (2013 edition), bye-laws 2(i) and 8, and Annexure-I. Back to the text
2. Bombay High Court (Aurangabad Bench), [Swapneel Sonwale v. State of Maharashtra](https://indiankanoon.org/doc/90752655/), Writ Petition No. 410 of 2013, 4 July 2013, which applies rule 26.4 and Appendix Six of the Secondary Schools Code on changes to the General Register. Back to the text
3. Department of School Education and Literacy, [UDISE+ Data Capture Format for 2025-26](https://edudel.nic.in/upload/upload_2025_26/437_46_dt_13052025/AnnexureA.pdf), items 4.2.1 and 4.2.2, as circulated by the Directorate of Education, Delhi. Back to the text
4. High Court of Madhya Pradesh, [order in Writ Petition No. 25248 of 2019](https://mphc.gov.in/upload/jabalpur/MPHCJB/2019/WP/25248/WP_25248_2019_FinalOrder_26-Feb-2022.pdf), 26 February 2022, paragraph 5, summarising rules 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 of the 1973 Rules. Back to the text

More school terms

[UDISE+](https://scoolin.com/glossary/udise-plus) [UDISE code](https://scoolin.com/glossary/udise-code) [APAAR ID](https://scoolin.com/glossary/apaar-id) [Bonafide certificate](https://scoolin.com/glossary/bonafide-certificate) [School leaving certificate](https://scoolin.com/glossary/school-leaving-certificate) [Migration certificate](https://scoolin.com/glossary/migration-certificate) [Admission number](https://scoolin.com/glossary/admission-number) [CBSE affiliation number](https://scoolin.com/glossary/cbse-affiliation-number) [RTE 25% quota](https://scoolin.com/glossary/rte-quota) [Co-scholastic areas](https://scoolin.com/glossary/co-scholastic-areas) [5+3+3+4 structure](https://scoolin.com/glossary/5-3-3-4-structure)