CBSE Affiliation Byelaws 2018 - Land & Capacity Requirements

* UPDATED ON 24 Sept 2021 **

By Circular No CBSE/AFF./Notification/2021 dated 24.09.2021, the land requirement of 4000 square meters located in Municipal Authorities of cities with population exceeding 15 lakhs, the population limit has been changed to 10 lakhs.

Smaller cities that have a population of over 10 lakhs can now make a CBSE affiliated school in 4000 sq meters.

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* UPDATED ON 04 Aug 2020 **

By Circular No CBSE/AFF/Bye_Laws_2018/2020 dated 04.08.2020, Greater Mumbai has been added to the list of Class-X cities.

This means that schools affiliated till Class X can be made on 2000 sq mtrs and till Class XII on 3000 sq mtrs in Greater Mumbai.

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* UPDATED ON 10 JAN 2020 **

Vide circular No 01/2020 dated 20 Jan 2020, CBSE has added 2 new subclauses to the Affiliation Bye-laws that effect the land requirements. The specific 2 clauses are:

Clause 3.4.8 for schools located in areas under the Development of Authorities of 04 metropolitan cities of Chennai, Delhi, Kolkatta and Mumbai,

Clause 3.4.9 for schools located in territorial limits of Union Territories.

This means that schools in the above two areas can now be made on lands of 4000 sq meters.

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CBSE Affiliation Byelaws 2018 – Land & Capacity Requirements

In the new CBSE Affiliation Byelaws released on 18 Oct 2018, there are some changes in the land requirements for setting up an affiliated school in India. Chapter 3 of the Byelaws defines the land requirements.

The norms specific the minimum requirement for setting up a Secondary School (upto Class X) or a Senior Secondary School (upto Class XII). The optimum number of sections that a school can operate are also defined based on the size of available land, in Appendix V.

The word “optimum” used while mentioning the number of sections leaves some ambiguity – it is neither maximum nor does it sound binding. Similarly, section 4.8 says that the optimum number of students shall be 40 in each section. It is fair to assume that by using the word optimum, the Board is trying to restrict the number to be maximum, except probably in rare cases of some existing schools.

Here is a table detailing the land requirements based on location of the school, the type of affiliation allowed and the number of sections that can be operated:

CBSE Land and Capacity Requirements

CBSE 2018 Affiliation Byelaws - Land and Capacity Requirements for Schools in India

S No	Location of School	Land Requirement / Campus Area	Affiliation Allowed	Optimum No. of Sections (From classes l/VI to X/XII)
1	Anywhere in India	Minimum 6000	Upto Class XII	38
2	Anywhere in India	8000 Square Meters	Upto Class XII	48
3	Anywhere in India	>8000 Square Meters	Upto Class XII	12 sections for every 2000 square meters
4	In Municipal limits of cities with a population exceeding 15 Lakhs	Minimum 4000 Square Meters	Upto Class XII	28
5	In hilly areas prescribed by the Planning Commission (NITI Aayog)	Minimum 4000 Square Meters	Upto Class XII	28
6	In Municipal Limits of the State Capital Cities	Minimum 4000 Square Meters	Upto Class XII	28
7	In the North Eastern States	Minimum 4000 Square Meters	Upto Class XII	28
8	In the state of Jammu and Kashmir	Minimum 4000 Square Meters	Upto Class XII	28
9	In Municipal Limits of Ghaziabad, NOIDA, Faridabad and Gurugram cities	Minimum 4000 Square Meters	Upto Class XII	28
10	In the Municipal Limits of Panchkula and Mohali/SAS Nagar	Minimum 4000 Square Meters	Upto Class XII	28
11	In the Development Authorities areas of Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai	Minimum 4000 Square Meters	Upto Class XII	28
12	In the Union Territories of India	Minimum 4000 Square Meters	Upto Class XII	28
13	In the Municipal Limits Class-X cities (Greater Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune) or on the Hill Stations (For Secondary Level)	Minimum 2000 Square Meters	Upto Class-X only	10
14	In the Municipal Limits Class-X cities (Greater Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune) or on the Hill Stations (For Senior Secondary Level)	Minimum 3000 Square Meters	Upto Class XII	24
15	In the Municipal Limits of Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai Or the state of Arunachal Pradesh Or the state of Sikkim Or the Islands (For Secondary Level)	Minimum 1600 Square Meters	Upto Class X only	10
16	In the Municipal Limits of Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai Or the state of Arunachal Pradesh Or the state of Sikkim Or the Islands (For Senior Secondary Level)	Minimum 2400 Square Meters	Upto Class XII	24
17	In the Municipal Limits of Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai Or the state of Arunachal Pradesh Or the state of Sikkim Or the Islands (For Senior Secondary Level)	3200 Square Meters	Upto Class XII	28
* The total number of sections taken together for classes XI and XII should not be more than 1/3 of optimum number of section allowed on the basis of land holding for any school.
* The number of sections and students shall be restricted as per the actual facilities in the school.
* The optimum number of students shall be 40 in each section. Availability of one square meter Built-up Floor Area per child in the class rooms is an absolute necessity in the school.