NEP 20206 min read

Credits in school education: what is policy and what is still a pilot

Most schools filed “credits” under higher education and stopped reading. The National Credit Framework does cover school years. In schools, though, it is still being tried out. Here is what is settled and what is not.

By iVakeFor principals, coordinators and exam cells · Published 2 September 2026

Checked against official notices on 17 September 2026.

When a school hears that students will build up credits in an academic bank, the natural reaction is that this is a college concern. Not entirely. The National Credit Framework (NCrF), published by UGC in April 2023, was written by a committee that included CBSE, NCERT and NIOS. It is designed as a single ladder that starts in school and runs through higher and vocational education.

On paper, school years carry credit levels: Class 5 is level 1, Class 8 is level 2, Class 10 is level 3 and Class 12 is level 4. A year of learning is set at 1,200 notional hours, worth 40 credits. But when the framework was published, it noted that regular schooling had no credit system yet. Boards are still testing how one would work.

The short versionMarks describe how well a student did. Credits describe how much learning they did. The framework says sport, arts, NCC and social work can count too, once assessed. Your school's files probably hold the first well and very little of the second. In schools this is still a pilot, not a rule.

The ladder does not start at college

This is the design in the framework, not what most schools do today. In CBSE's pilot, credits were to reach the Academic Bank of Credits through the APAAR ID "in future". And APAAR needs a parent's consent, so some students will not have one. Confirm stage and credit rules with your board.

What would change for you

Hours become part of the picture

NCrF credits are based on notional learning hours: 30 hours is one credit. These are the hours planned for a subject or activity, not minutes counted per child. Credits are earned only after assessment. In CBSE's pilot, a student earned a subject's credits in full on passing it, or none. The pilot also set a minimum attendance of 75%.

So a school would need to show how its hours are planned per subject and activity, and that each assessment took place. A daily attendance register alone does not show that.

Things you never wrote down formally could count

The framework lists sport, yoga, performing arts, music, social work, NCC and vocational training among the learning that can earn credit, subject to assessment. These have always happened, and have usually been written up in a diary, a WhatsApp group or nowhere. To count, they would need a date, hours, a supervisor and an assessment.

This is the same underlying gap as the Holistic Progress Card: the school is being asked to write down what it always did.

APAAR needs care, and consent

Many schools ran APAAR as a data-entry drive. It is more than that, and it is voluntary. On 20 July 2026 the Supreme Court directed the Centre and CBSE to change the model consent form so that parents and guardians can clearly withhold or refuse consent. The Court also said APAAR data is governed by the DPDP Act.

So note each family's answer. If they agree, check the ID carefully: an ID attached to the wrong child, or a duplicate made because a name was spelled differently, is hard to undo once credits attach. If they refuse, mark it as "consent refused" and keep the form. For the 2025–26 board registration, CBSE told schools to enter "REFUSED" where parents did not consent, and to keep a copy of the refusal. Check the latest circular for your year.

Transfers could get easier, and stricter

The aim is that a student moving school arrives with what they earned rather than starting over. That depends on systems still being built. What will not change is that what you send must be accurate, because the receiving school will act on it.

The honest state of play

This area is moving, and unevenly. The NCrF was published in April 2023. In April 2024, CBSE invited its schools to pilot it in Classes 6, 9 and 11 from the 2024–25 session, with credits shown on the marks statement. What a school must do today differs by board and by state. If anyone tells you exactly what your school must do by a fixed date, ask to see the circular.

The policy points one way: a portable record of learning that covers more than examinations. Schools that can already show planned hours per subject, activities with dates and supervisors, and a clear APAAR status for every student will find any future requirement a mapping exercise. Schools with only a marks register and a daily attendance sheet will find it a project.

If you do one thingCheck two things. Does every enrolled student have a clear APAAR status — ID checked, or consent refused? And can you show one student's subjects, hours and activities for one term? Both are useful whatever the final rules say.

How iVake handles it

APAAR sits on the student record, with DigiLocker documents arriving already carrying the issuer's signature so verification is a consistency check rather than a judgement call. Near-duplicate students are held for a human to decide instead of being merged silently — which is the failure that becomes expensive once credits attach.

Attendance is recorded per subject and per activity, not just per day, so hours are available as a unit rather than something to reconstruct. Activities outside the classroom — vocational sessions, sport, community work — are recorded against the student with a date, a supervisor and evidence attached, on the same record as everything else.

If the credit requirement firms up, that is a mapping from data you already hold. Which is the whole point of keeping it properly before you are told to.

See it on your own records

Sources

APAAR, ABC and NCrF The Holistic Progress Card Campus operations

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