A school transfer certificate in India records the student’s name, parents’ names, date of birth in figures and words, admission and leaving dates, the class studied and passed, conduct, and whether dues are cleared. It is signed by the head of the institution and carries the school’s UDISE code and the student’s PEN where applicable.
Boards and states prescribe their own TC formats. Check your board’s current bye-laws before adopting any general layout, including this one.
A transfer certificate is a small document that causes a disproportionate number of arguments, almost always about the same four fields. It is worth getting the format right once rather than reissuing.
The receiving school will check it against the admission form, so anything that does not match — a date of birth in figures that disagrees with the words, a leaving date before the last fee receipt — comes straight back.
The set below covers what receiving schools and boards commonly check. Your board may prescribe more.
| Field | Why it is there | Where it goes wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Student name, as on record | Identity match at the receiving school | Spelling differs from the birth certificate; fix at admission, not at exit |
| Date of birth, figures and words | The words are the tie-breaker if the figures are altered | The two disagree — the single most common reissue |
| Admission number and date | Establishes the period of study | Missing for students admitted before the register was digitised |
| Class studied and class passed | These are different fields and both are needed | Only one recorded, so the receiving school cannot place the student |
| Date of leaving | Fixes liability for fees and attendance | Set to the date of issue rather than the actual last day |
| Conduct | Required by most boards | Anything other than satisfactory needs a documented basis |
| Dues cleared | The school’s own protection | Signed before the last instalment actually posted |
| UDISE code and PEN | Ties the certificate to government records | Omitted on older templates that were never updated |
Schools ask about this constantly. The position taken by courts and by several state authorities has generally been unsympathetic to withholding a transfer certificate purely to enforce payment, particularly where a child’s continued education is affected.
This is a legal question with state-level variation and it changes. Take advice on your own jurisdiction rather than relying on what a neighbouring school does. Operationally, the safer pattern is to record the outstanding amount as a receivable and issue the certificate, rather than to hold the document.
Families lose these. A duplicate should be clearly marked as a duplicate, carry the original serial number and issue date, and be recorded in the register alongside the original rather than replacing it.
SchoolDeck regenerates a transfer certificate exactly as it was issued, using the template version in force at the time, so a certificate reprinted four years later does not silently acquire this year’s letterhead and format.
Phrased the way they arrive, answered so each one stands on its own.
A transfer certificate, commonly called a TC, is the document a school issues when a student leaves. It records the period of study, the class studied and passed, conduct, and whether dues are cleared, and the receiving school relies on it to admit the student to the correct class.
Withholding a transfer certificate purely to enforce payment has generally been treated unfavourably where a child’s education is affected, and several states have issued directions on it. The position varies by jurisdiction and changes, so take advice locally rather than following common practice.
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.
It has to be corrected at source on the student record, with documentary evidence, and the certificate reissued as a corrected duplicate referencing the original serial. Amending the printed certificate alone leaves the school’s own register disagreeing with what it issued.
Checked by the Implementations desk on 31 August 2026. Corrections go in the page, dated, rather than quietly.
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