CBSE schools list: official directory and email list

What a CBSE schools list covers

A CBSE schools list is a list of schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education. Families use one to choose a school; suppliers use one to find customers for books, lab kits, software and services. This guide is for suppliers: the free official directory, what it gives you, and when a ready file saves days of copying.

CBSE schools are not all run the same way, and that changes how they buy:

• Independent (private) schools are run by trusts and societies. The principal and the management decide on most purchases themselves.
• Kendriya Vidyalayas and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas are run by central government bodies. They follow government buying rules, and many of their purchases go through GeM, the Government e-Marketplace.
• Government and aided schools affiliated to CBSE, such as many Delhi government schools, usually buy through their education department's procedures.
• Schools outside India, mostly in the Gulf countries, are also affiliated to CBSE and appear in its directory.

Using the official CBSE schools directory

CBSE keeps its directory of affiliated schools on SARAS, its online affiliation portal. It is free, and it is the right place to confirm that a school really is affiliated. Searching it is simple:

1. Open the affiliated schools search on the SARAS portal, which you reach from CBSE's website.
2. Search by state and district, by school name, or by affiliation number.
3. Open a school's record to see its affiliation number, the level it is affiliated up to (Class 10 or Class 12), its address and the contact details it has given the board, often including the principal's name.

What the directory is not built for is outreach. You read schools one record at a time, so copying a district into a spreadsheet takes hours and a whole state takes days. The contact details are whatever the school filed with CBSE, so a principal who has moved on may still be shown. It also covers CBSE only: ICSE schools sit with CISCE, and UDISE+, the Ministry of Education's school data system, covers every board but is built for statistics, not outreach.

A ready CBSE schools email database

Our CBSE Schools (Email List) file holds 14,648 school email addresses. It is made for email only: it has no phone numbers or postal addresses, and no school names or principals' names. It is sold as one All-India file, with no city or state versions, and the rows do not say where each school is, so you cannot split it by region. You can see 60 real rows and download a free sample before you buy.

If you need phone numbers, or schools in particular towns, the broader Schools & Colleges list covers schools and colleges generally, not only CBSE ones, and 75% of its contacts have a mobile number. Our guide to schools and teachers lists shows its state versions. Confirm the board on SARAS before you write to a school about CBSE material.

• CBSE Schools (Email List) 14,648 contacts · 100% email · 0% mobile ₹1,999
• Schools & Colleges 67,232 contacts · 48% email · 75% mobile ₹1,999

Who writes to CBSE schools, and with what

Every CBSE school follows the same syllabus and exam pattern, so one product can suit schools from Guwahati to Kochi. That draws:

• Publishers of reference books, sample papers, workbooks and lab manuals written to the CBSE syllabus.
• Olympiad and assessment organisers who enrol whole schools in competitions and skill tests.
• Teacher training providers, since CBSE expects teachers to keep up regular in-service training.
• School software firms: ERP, fee collection, report cards, timetables and online learning platforms.
• Lab and activity suppliers: maths and science lab kits, robotics kits and art and craft material.
• Sportswear and event suppliers, such as Tiruppur knitwear units making house T-shirts and track suits for sports days.

An email plan for reaching principals

1. Time it to the school year. The CBSE session starts in April, and book lists and vendor choices for it are usually settled between November and March. Avoid the board exam weeks in February and March, and the summer break, when many schools in the north are shut from mid-May to June.
2. Prepare your sending domain. Send from a domain with SPF, DKIM and DMARC in place, include a one-click unsubscribe, and start with a few hundred emails a day. Our SPF, DKIM and DMARC guide shows how.
3. Write for a busy principal. If your file has no school names, use a greeting that works without them. A subject such as "Free specimen: Class 9 science lab manual" and an opening like "Dear Principal, we publish lab manuals written to the CBSE Class 9 and 10 science syllabus, already used by schools in Indore and Bhopal. May we courier two specimen copies to your science department?" says what you offer in one breath.
4. Expect the usual questions. Principals ask whether the product follows the current CBSE curriculum, what it costs per student, whether there is a free specimen or demo, and which schools nearby already use it. Kendriya Vidyalayas will ask whether you sell on GeM.
5. Follow up by phone where you can. A call to the school office between about 1 and 3 pm often reaches the principal or the office superintendent.
6. Act on every opt-out at once and remove that address from all future sends.

More ready wording is in our cold email templates for B2B sales.

Questions people ask

Can I download the CBSE schools directory as an Excel file?

The SARAS portal is made for searching and checking schools rather than exporting mailing lists; check it for its current options. If you need thousands of school email addresses in one sheet, a ready file is quicker.

Can I get CBSE schools in one city only?

Our CBSE file is All-India only. For one city, search SARAS by district, or start from a city version of a general schools list and confirm each school's board on SARAS before you write.

Is it allowed to email schools?

Writing to a school's official address about something it may need is normal business practice, but say who you are, keep offers relevant, include an unsubscribe link and act on removal requests. India's data protection law is coming into force in phases, so take advice on how it applies to you. Anyone can ask us to remove their details.