The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) conducted a series of surprise inspections at 27 schools in Rajasthan and the national capital on Tuesday to check the ‘dummy school’ menace, top officials said.

The move comes six months after the board cancelled the affiliation of 20 schools for enrolling dummy students and ineligible candidates.

“These inspections were aimed at ensuring that the schools affiliated with the board are strictly adhering to the norms and bylaws set forth by CBSE. The inspections were carried out by 27 teams, each comprising a CBSE officer and a principal from a CBSE-affiliated school,” CBSE Secretary Himanshu Gupta said.

“The inspections were meticulously planned and executed in a synchronized manner, taking place simultaneously across all selected schools within a short timeframe,” he added.

Gupta said the approach was adopted to maintain the element of surprise, thereby ensuring that the information gathered about the operations and compliance of the schools is accurate and reflective of their everyday functioning.

“The findings from these inspections will be reviewed comprehensively, and appropriate actions will be taken in cases of non-compliance. CBSE reiterates its commitment to rigorous monitoring and will continue to conduct such surprise inspections to ensure that affiliated schools uphold the quality and standards expected by the board,” he added.

Scores of students preparing for engineering and medical entrance exams prefer to take admission to dummy schools so that they can focus solely on their preparations for the competitive exams. They do not attend classes and straightaway appear in the board exams.

Aspirants also choose dummy schools keeping in mind the quota in medical and engineering institutes available for the students from certain states. For example, the candidates who have completed Classes 11 and 12 in Delhi are considered for admission in the medical colleges of the national capital under the Delhi State Quota.