About CBSE
Historical Background
A trail of developments mark the significant changes that took place over the years in shaping up the Board
to its present status. U P Board of High School and Intermediate Education was the first Board set up in
1921. It has under its jurisdiction Rajputana, Central India and Gwalior. In response to the representation
made by the Government of United Provinces, the then Government of India suggested to set up a joint Board
in 1929 for all the areas which was named as the 'Board of High School and Intermediate Education,
Rajputana'. This included Ajmer, Merwara, Central India and Gwalior.
The Board witnessed rapid growth and expansion at the level of Secondary education resulting in improved
quality and standard of education in institutions. But with the advent of State Universities and State
Boards in various parts of the country the jurisdiction of the Board was confined only to Ajmer, Bhopal and
Vindhya Pradesh later. As a result of this, in 1952, the constitution of the Board was amended wherein its
jurisdiction was extended to part-C and Part-D territories and the Board was given its present name 'Central
Board of Secondary Education'. It was in the year 1962 finally that the Board was reconstituted. The main
objectives were to serve the educational institutions more effectively, to be responsive to the educational
needs of those students whose parents were employed in the Central Government and had frequently
transferable jobs.
Decentralisation
In order to execute its functions effectively, Regional Offices have been set up by the Board in different
parts of the country to be more responsive to the affiliated schools. The Board has regional offices in
Allahabad, Ajmer, Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Dehradun, Delhi, Guwahati, Panchkula, Patna and Trivanthapurm.
Schools located outside India are looked after by regional office Delhi. The headquarter constantly monitors
the activities of the Regional Offices. Although, sufficient powers have been vested with the Regional
Offices, issues involving policy matters are, however, referred to the head office. Matters pertaining to
day-to-day administration, liaison with schools, pre and post examination arrangements are all dealt with by
the respective regional offices.
Main objectives of CBSE are
To define appropriate approaches of academic activities to provide stress free, child centered and
To analyze and monitor the quality of academic activities by collecting the feedback from different
stakeholders
To develop norms for implementation of various academic activities including quality issues; to control
and coordinate the implementation of various academic and training programmes of the Board; to organize
academic activities and to supervise other agencies involved in the process
To adapt and innovate methods to achieve academic excellence in conformity with psychological, pedagogical
and social principles.
To encourage schools to document the progress of students in a teacher and student friendly way
To propose plans to achieve quality benchmarks in school education consistent with the National goals
To organize various capacity building and empowerment programmes to update the professional competency of
teachers
To prescribe conditions of examinations and conduct public examination at the end of Class X and XII. To
grant qualifying certificates to successful candidates of the affiliated schools.
To fulfill the educational requirements of those students whose parents were employed in transferable jobs
To prescribe and update the course of instructions of examinations
To affiliate institutions for the purpose of examination and raise the academic standards of the country.
The prime focus of the Board is on:
Innovations in teaching-learning methodologies by devising students friendly and students centered
paradigms
Reforms in examinations and evaluation practices.
Skill learning by adding job-oriented and job-linked inputs
Regularly updating the pedagogical skills of the teachers and administrators by conducting in service
training programmes, workshops etc.