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School document formats, and the fields that cause disputes

These pages set out the standard formats for the documents Indian schools issue most often — transfer certificates, bonafide certificates, fee receipts, report cards, admission forms and leave applications — with the fields each must carry and the ones that most commonly cause a reissue.

Boards and states prescribe their own formats. Check your board’s current bye-laws before adopting any general layout.

A document format seems like a solved problem until a receiving school rejects one. Almost always the cause is the same handful of fields: a date of birth in figures that disagrees with the words, a leaving date set to the date of issue rather than the last day attended, or a dues declaration signed before the last instalment posted.

Each page here lists the fields, says why each is there, and names where it goes wrong.

Documents covered
TC, bonafide, receipts, report cards, admission forms
Includes
Field-by-field notes on what causes reissues
Identifiers
UDISE code and PEN, where they now belong
Versioning
Why a reprint must use the format in force at issue
01

The fields that cause almost every reissue

Across documents, the same four fields account for most rejections.

  • Date of birth in figures and words. The words are the tie-breaker if the figures are altered. When the two disagree the document comes straight back.
  • Class studied and class passed. These are different fields and both are needed. With only one, the receiving school cannot place the student.
  • Date of leaving. Fixes liability for fees and attendance. Setting it to the date of issue rather than the actual last day creates a gap nobody can account for later.
  • Dues cleared. Signed before the final instalment has actually posted, and the school has given away its own protection.
02

Why a reprint must not silently use this year’s format

Families lose documents, and a duplicate issued four years later should look like the original, not like this year’s letterhead. If your format has changed in between — and after UDISE codes and PEN became expected on certificates, most have — a reprint on the current template is a different document from the one you issued.

Templates should be versioned and stamped with the version in force at the date of issue, with duplicates clearly marked as duplicates and carrying the original serial number.

FAQ

Questions people ask

Phrased the way they arrive, answered so each one stands on its own.

Do school certificates need the UDISE code now?

Increasingly yes, along with the student’s PEN where one has been allotted. Older templates predate both and receiving schools now routinely ask for them, so it is worth updating the format rather than adding them by hand.

Can we use these formats as they are?

Treat them as a checklist of what to include rather than a prescribed layout. Where your board specifies a format, the board’s format governs; these pages help you confirm nothing is missing from it.

How should duplicates be recorded?

Marked clearly as a duplicate, carrying the original serial number and issue date, and recorded in the register alongside the original rather than replacing it.

Related

Read next

1 page

Everything under this section

Each one answers a single question outright, then shows the working.

/schooldeck/templates/
Provenance

Who checked this, and against what

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