Kota is witnessing the beginning of the end of dummy schooling, driven by court orders, board regulations and tighter oversight of its coaching ecosystem. The old model of students being “on paper” in schools while spending all their time in coaching centres is now actively being dismantled by regulators.
What is dummy schooling?
- Dummy schools are institutions that enrol students mainly to provide board exam registration and attendance records, while those students actually attend full‑time coaching for exams like JEE and NEET.
- In Kota, the coaching–school nexus allowed teenagers to appear as regular CBSE students despite never attending classes, with some schools existing largely on paper or running separate “dummy” sections.
Why the crackdown started
- The Rajasthan High Court has called dummy schools an “educational farce” and a “blight” on the education system, condemning the nexus between schools and coaching centres in Kota and other hubs.
- Acting on petitions involving two Kota schools de‑affiliated by CBSE for dummy admissions and record manipulation, the court ordered strong corrective action and framed the practice as a serious threat to real schooling.
Key legal and policy moves
- The Rajasthan High Court directed the state and all boards to form Special Investigation Teams (SITs) to conduct surprise inspections of schools and coaching centres; if students are found in coaching during school hours, strict action must follow.
- CBSE and other boards have tightened rules on minimum attendance (typically 75%), internal assessments and school infrastructure, warning that students who do not genuinely attend accredited schools may be barred from Class 12 board exams and pushed to NIOS instead.
How enforcement works in Kota
- Following the court’s order, the Rajasthan education department began collecting attendance registers, classroom photographs and exam records from private schools in Kota and other coaching hubs, exposing schools with hundreds of enrolments but nearly empty classrooms.
- Schools caught giving false attendance or hosting dummy students have faced CBSE de‑affiliation, downgrading of status and show‑cause notices, with repeat violations risking permanent disaffiliation.
Impact on coaching, students and the city
- Many major Kota coaching centres now openly advise students to avoid dummy admissions and instead choose recognised open schooling or distance‑learning options so that preparation remains legal and board‑compliant.
- As regulation tightens and negative publicity mounts, Kota has seen a 30–40% drop in student inflow in recent years, hitting hostels, coaching institutes and allied businesses and forcing a broader rethink of its high‑pressure coaching culture.
