A few days ago, the CBSE made headlines—and not the good kind for some coaching institutes. The board announced a crackdown on dummy schools, those elusive institutions that are technically “schools” but in reality, are more like teleportation portals to competitive exam prep classes.
đź”— CBSE to act against dummy schools: Hindustan Times
Now, before we jump on the moral high horse, let’s break this down.
So, What Are Dummy Schools?
Imagine a school with no morning assembly, no uniform checks, no classroom chalk fights, and absolutely no biology teacher shouting, “Who’s making noise in the last bench!?”
Sounds like Hogwarts without the magic, right?
Well, that’s your dummy school—a school where you are enrolled only on paper. The only purpose? To appear for your 12th Board Exams, the great Indian formality we all must endure.
Because here’s the twist in the plot: In India, science students after 12th must give not one, but two types of exams:
The Board Exam – mandatory, taken seriously only by parents and school management.
The Competitive Exams – JEE, NEET, CUET, etc., that actually decide whether you end up in IIT Bombay or Bitter Disappointment Institute of Technology.
Why This Dual-Exam Drama?
Here’s where the confusion peaks. Board exams are designed to test memory and presentation. Competitive exams? They check for conceptual clarity, problem-solving, and the magical ability to stay calm while your future flashes before your eyes in a physics question.
So while board exam preparation is like warming up noodles in a microwave, competitive exam prep is like slow-cooking biryani—takes more time, more depth, and definitely more tears.
Juggling Two Different Study Styles? Help.
Let’s face it—these are two completely different types of exams with very different mindsets. In schools, you learn definitions, draw diagrams, and underline key points. In competitive exams, you solve a 3-page math problem that ends in “none of the above.”
Now try preparing for both in the same timeframe.
You’d either need time travel… or a lot of free time during school hours.
That’s Exactly Where Dummy Colleges Come In.
Since regular colleges/schools continue to focus on the board exam syllabus (which sadly has zero weightage in top college admissions), students realized:
“Why waste 6 hours a day attending lectures on topics I’ve already mastered thrice in my coaching class?”
Enter dummy colleges. Or their fancier cousins: Integrated colleges—where board syllabus is done just enough to pass, while the actual effort goes into cracking competitive exams.
It’s not about cheating the system. It’s about adapting to a broken one.
So, Are Dummy Colleges Bad? Or Just Misunderstood?
Honestly? They’re not the villains. They are simply the outcome of a deep disconnect in our education system.
If boards aren’t useful for college admissions, and competitive exams don’t care what your school rank was—how long before students stop pretending to learn at school and start preparing where it actually matters?
Dummy colleges are not ideal. But they are necessary—until our education policy finds a better way to merge board curriculum with competitive prep. Or at least, stops penalizing students for focusing on what truly matters for their future.
The Way Forward?
Instead of banning dummy colleges, how about:
Updating the board syllabus to match competitive exam demands.
Introducing concept-based evaluation in school exams.
Recognizing integrated models as legitimate, and regulating them to prevent misuse.
Until then, let’s accept the reality: Dummy colleges are not evil.
They’re just a creative workaround in a system that hasn’t quite figured itself out yet.
And let’s be honest—if you had to attend five hours of pointless lectures after solving HC Verma problems all night, wouldn’t you choose a dummy school too?