New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Friday conducted surprise inspections at 15 schools in seven states and Union Territories to check for violations of norms, including the enrolment of dummy or non-attending students, according to officials.

"The CBSE has conducted a series of surprise inspections in 15 schools across Delhi, Chandigarh, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. There were 15 teams, consisting of a CBSE officer and a principal of a CBSE-affiliated school, deployed for the inspections.

"All of the inspections were executed in a synchronised manner at the same time in a short window to ensure the surprise element remains intact and to get accurate information about the working and operations of the schools," a senior board official said.

The official explained that the primary objective of the inspections was to ascertain whether schools were functioning in compliance with CBSE norms as per its bylaws and not enrolling non-attending students, while also maintaining the required academic and physical infrastructure.

"Further action shall be taken after reviewing the reports of the inspection committee. CBSE is committed to upholding educational standards and will continue enforcing stringent measures against any violations of its regulations," the official added.

Many students preparing for engineering and medical entrance exams prefer enrolling in dummy schools so they can focus solely on competitive exam preparation. These students typically do not attend regular classes and appear only for board exams.

Some aspirants also enrol in dummy schools to gain eligibility for state-specific quotas in medical and engineering colleges. For instance, students completing senior secondary education in Delhi become eligible for the Delhi state quota, making dummy school enrolment in the capital an attractive option.