Parents in Navi Mumbai often ask which school is best, how many schools there are and whether a school is genuine. Official sources do not rank schools, and we found no official count of schools in Navi Mumbai. What parents can check for themselves is a school’s board affiliation, whether it is recognised, how the state’s fee rules apply, and whether a child may qualify for a free seat under the Right to Education Act’s 25% provision. This guide covers those checks, with the official source for each and what we could not confirm. For a comparison of schools by area, see our best schools guide and our international schools guide.
NaviMumbai.com is an independent publication and does not rate or recommend schools. The facts below come from CBSE’s SARAS directory, the Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Regulation of Fee) Act, 2011 as reproduced on Indian Kanoon, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, Maharashtra’s RTE 25% admission portal, Cambridge International’s website and news reports, checked on 3 October 2026 and corrected on the same day after a review. Rules, dates and lists change. The featured image is an AI-generated illustration, not a photograph of any school.
Quick Answer
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| How many schools are in Navi Mumbai? | We found no official count. A count needs a defined boundary, academic year and school category, and NMMC, Panvel Municipal Corporation and the wider Navi Mumbai region are different areas. |
| How do I check a school’s CBSE affiliation? | Search CBSE’s SARAS directory by school name or affiliation number and read the record, including the affiliation period. |
| Which school is ranked first? | We found no official ranking, so we do not name one. |
| How are school fees regulated? | The Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Regulation of Fee) Act, 2011 covers recognised schools of any board. For private unaided and permanently unaided schools, section 6 lets a school declare a fee structure, or propose a fee of no more than the previous year’s fee plus 15% with further conditions. Parents can appeal as a group of at least 25%. |
| Can a school run without recognition? | Section 18 of the Right to Education Act says a school other than a government or local authority school cannot function without a certificate of recognition. The Act concerns elementary education and has its own exceptions, so ask the competent education authority about the level you need. |
| Who may get the 25% free seats? | Children in the disadvantaged groups and children of families with income around ₹1 lakh, at a participating school’s entry level, through the state’s RTE portal. The income boundary wording differs between documents, as explained below. |
Check the Board Before You Pay
CBSE. CBSE publishes a schools directory on its SARAS portal. You can search by keyword, which matches any word in the school’s name or address, by affiliation number, or by state, region or school level. A record shows the affiliation number, school code, district, status level, principal, address and website, and the details page shows the affiliation period and the trust or society that runs the school.
- Search by the school’s name first. The district field can say Raigad or Thane for a school with a Navi Mumbai address, so do not rely on the word Mumbai.
- Compare the affiliation number on the school’s website or prospectus with the number in SARAS.
- Read the affiliation period. A record can show a period that starts in a future year, so check that the period covers the academic year you are applying for.
- Check the status level. A secondary level school is not the same as a senior secondary school.
CISCE (ICSE and ISC). The council has a school locator at locate.cisce.org. Its website blocked our automated access, so we could not test it ourselves. Search by the school’s name, compare the school code with what the school states, and check which examinations, ICSE, ISC or both, the record lists.
IB. The International Baccalaureate Organization lists IB World Schools on its school finder at ibo.org. That site also blocked our automated access, so we could not check any Navi Mumbai listing ourselves. The listing is programme specific. A school listed for the Diploma Programme is not thereby authorised for the Primary Years or Middle Years Programme, so check each programme the school advertises.
Cambridge. Cambridge International says on its page on recognising a Cambridge school that you can use its Find a School page to verify registered schools, that registered schools get a certificate and wall plaque, and that you should be wary of a provider who cannot supply a Cambridge centre number and certificate.
A school that says it follows a board is not necessarily affiliated to it for every class, and a school can use a board’s syllabus without being affiliated. Ask for the affiliation or centre number in writing and check it at the board. Our best schools guide and international schools guide list selected schools, and a listing there is not a substitute for this check.
Is the School Recognised?
Under section 18 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, no school other than one established, owned or controlled by the government or a local authority may be established or function without a certificate of recognition. Section 18(5) provides a fine of up to ₹1 lakh for running a school without one, and up to ₹10,000 for each day the contravention continues. The Act deals with elementary education and has its own exceptions, for example for madrasas, Vedic pathshalas and institutions that primarily impart religious instruction (section 1(5)). So section 18 is not the only recognition rule for every institution or every level, and recognition for secondary and higher secondary classes should be confirmed with the competent education authority for that school.
We found no official list of unauthorised schools for Navi Mumbai that we could open. NMMC’s website did not load readable content for us. News reports say NMMC’s education department has published notices about schools operating without permission and warned parents before admissions: Free Press Journal, 21 May 2026, 7 June 2025 and 26 July 2023. The 2026 report cites section 18 of the Act. A report from Pudhari on 25 March 2026 says Raigad Zilla Parishad’s primary education officer released a list of 35 unauthorised schools in the district, 22 of them in Panvel taluka. That is a district list, and Panvel taluka includes areas outside Panvel Municipal Corporation. We have not named any school, and a news report from an earlier year does not show a school’s status today.
Before you admit a child, ask the school for its certificate of recognition, the authority that issued it and the classes it covers, and confirm it with the education authority competent for that school and level. Which authority that is can depend on the school’s management, level and board, not only on the municipal area, so ask the school and the education department rather than assuming. A school recognised only up to a certain class may not be able to continue a child’s schooling beyond it.
How Many Schools Are There?
We could not find an official count. A meaningful number needs a defined boundary, an academic year and a school category, and the NMMC area, the Panvel Municipal Corporation area and the wider Navi Mumbai region are not interchangeable counting areas. UDISE+, the government’s school data system, gave us no usable data, and NMMC’s own website did not return readable pages. If you need a count for a particular area, ask the education department of the relevant municipal corporation and say which year and categories you mean.
A Free Press Journal report of 24 March 2026 says NMMC’s general body approved converting all municipal schools to English medium in phases, starting with newly enrolled students. It gives no school total.
How School Fees Are Regulated
We read the Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Regulation of Fee) Act, 2011 as reproduced on Indian Kanoon, which shows it as amended by Maharashtra Act 28 of 2019. India Code, the official host, did not open for us, so check the official text if you need to rely on a section. The Act defines a school as a recognised school of any Indian or foreign board, whether aided, unaided or permanently unaided, other than one imparting only religious instruction. That is a separate point from section 6, whose mechanism for proposing and increasing fees concerns private unaided and permanently unaided schools. The points below are from that text.
- Declared fee structure (section 6(1A)). A private unaided or permanently unaided school may choose to declare a standard-wise fee structure at admission for classes 1 to 10, or in two parts. A declared structure is binding, and the school must display it on its notice board and website.
- The 15% limit (section 6(1B)). A school of that kind that does not declare a structure may propose a fee of no more than the previous year’s fee plus 15%, and may increase it again only after two years from the date the fee was approved. This is not a general right for every school to raise fees by 15% each year.
- Higher increases (section 6(1C)). The school may go above those limits only in unforeseen events, with the approval of 76% of parents or of the Executive Committee, with reasons.
- Parent-Teachers Association approval (sections 6(2) and 6(3)). The school submits the proposed fee to the Executive Committee of the Parent-Teachers Association at least six months before the next academic year. The committee has 30 days to approve it, and the approved fee is displayed in Marathi, English and the school’s medium and binds for two academic years.
- Appeals (sections 6(5) and 6(6)). The Act’s parents’ appeal is brought by an “aggrieved parents group”, defined in section 2(a-1) as parents of not less than 25% of the total parents of the children of the affected standard or school. The group appeals to the Divisional Fee Regulatory Committee within 30 days of receiving the decision, with a duly signed form from each aggrieved parent authorising the appeal. The committee may entertain a late appeal after 30 days, but not later than 60 days from the decision, if it is satisfied that there are sufficient reasons. It decides as far as possible within 90 days and can order excess fees refunded.
- Penalty (section 16). On conviction, for a first offence the Act provides a fine of not less than ₹1 lakh, up to ₹5 lakh or the excess fee collected, whichever is higher. A second or later offence carries a higher fine or imprisonment of three to six months. A parent’s complaint does not itself lead to a fine or imprisonment, and under section 19 a court takes cognizance only with the sanction of the Government or an officer, not below the rank of Deputy Director of Education, whom the Government authorises.
The Act provides for a Divisional Fee Regulatory Committee for each educational division, chaired by a retired District Judge. We found no official page giving the contact details of the committee for the Konkan division, so ask the state’s school education department for them. A single family that is worried about a fee can raise it in writing with the school management and the education department, but that is not the statutory group appeal described above.
Free Seats Under the RTE 25% Quota
Section 12(1)(c) of the Right to Education Act requires private unaided schools and special category schools to admit, to the extent of at least 25% of the strength of class I, children from the weaker section and disadvantaged group in the neighbourhood, and to provide free and compulsory elementary education till its completion. Maharashtra’s state portal extends the entry level to pre-primary where a school begins there. The provision covers admission at the school’s entry level and the child’s elementary education afterwards. It does not give a family a fresh reserved seat in any later class.
Maharashtra runs RTE 25% admissions through a state portal run by the School Education and Sports Department. The details below are from the portal’s 2026 required-documents list and its FAQ file, which are in Marathi and which we translated ourselves. The FAQ file is headed for the 2024-25 admission cycle, so check each point against the current year’s notices.
- Who qualifies. The FAQ says children of families with a combined annual income up to ₹1 lakh, and children in the disadvantaged group. That group includes Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Vimukta Jatis and Nomadic Tribes, OBC and SBC children, children with disabilities, children affected by HIV, children orphaned by Covid and orphans.
- The income boundary. The wording differs between documents. The FAQ’s eligibility answer says income “up to” ₹1 lakh, and another FAQ answer says income “within” ₹1 lakh. The 2026 required-documents list asks for an income certificate showing income less than ₹1 lakh. We could not resolve what applies to a family at exactly ₹1 lakh, so check the notification for the current year before relying on either wording.
- Which schools. Participation is decided school by school. The FAQ says eligible schools are aided, unaided and permanently unaided self-financed primary schools of any board that have class 1 or a pre-primary level, excluding madrasas, maktabs, religious schools and minority schools. That does not mean every school of a board takes part. Check the specific campus in the current year’s official participating-school list, and do not infer participation from CBSE, ICSE or IB branding.
- Documents depend on the category. The 2026 list makes a birth certificate, proof of residence and an Aadhaar card mandatory for all children, with a stated provision for temporary admission if a child cannot produce the Aadhaar yet and must submit it within 90 days. Tenants need a registered rent agreement. Beyond that, the documents depend on the child’s category. Caste-based categories need the prescribed caste certificate, and certificates from other states are not accepted. A child with a disability needs a disability certificate of 40% or more. The list sets out its own documents for children of divorced mothers, widows, orphans, children affected by HIV and Covid-orphaned children, and children in the economically weak category need an income certificate. Read the list for your child’s category, because a caste certificate is not a blanket requirement. The portal’s 2026-27 notices say a gas book is not accepted as residence proof and a bank passbook is accepted only from a nationalised bank.
- 2026-27 cycle. The portal says school verification started on 9 January 2026, the parents’ application deadline was 31 March 2026, and admissions from Selection List 5 ran from 16 to 31 July 2026. The next cycle’s dates were not on the portal when we checked.
We could not find an official statement of how many Navi Mumbai schools take part. The portal’s school list needs a login or district query that we did not use. A Free Press Journal report of 24 August 2023 says 2,130 students were admitted under the RTE quota in NMMC-area schools in 2023-24. That is old data and not a figure for 2026-27. Section 13 of the Act also bars schools covered by it from subjecting a child or parents to a screening procedure for admission, so an RTE-quota admission does not depend on a test or interview.
Verification Worksheet
Record these for every school you are considering, and ask for the documents in writing.
| Check | What to record |
|---|---|
| Campus identity | The exact name, address and management of the campus you are applying to |
| Recognition | The issuing authority, the classes covered and a copy of the certificate |
| Board and programme | The affiliation or school code, the level and the period, checked in the board’s own directory |
| Fees | The academic year, the grade, and the declared or approved fee schedule in writing |
| RTE | Whether the campus appears in the current year’s participating-school list, and the eligible entry class |
| Admissions | Written requirements, deadlines and refund terms |
Keep every receipt and ask what each charge covers. Do not rely on a school’s ranking in an advertisement, because we found no official ranking.
If your child is not yet at school age, see our guide to preschools in Navi Mumbai. If you are weighing an RTE application, our EWS certificate guide explains one of the documents that may be asked for.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many schools are there in Navi Mumbai?
We found no official count. A count needs a defined boundary, academic year and school category, and the NMMC area, the Panvel Municipal Corporation area and the wider Navi Mumbai region are different counting areas. Ask the education department of the relevant municipal corporation, and say which year and categories you mean.
How do I check whether a school is CBSE affiliated?
Search CBSE’s SARAS schools directory by the school’s name or affiliation number and read the record. Check that the affiliation number matches what the school says and that the affiliation period covers the year you are applying for.
Does every CBSE, ICSE or IB school take RTE 25% admissions?
No. Participation is decided school by school and year by year. Check the specific campus in the current year’s official participating-school list on the state portal, and do not infer it from the school’s board or brand.
Which school is ranked first in Navi Mumbai?
We found no official ranking, so we do not name one. Compare schools on board, recognition, fees, commute and what your child needs, and visit before you decide.
Is there an international school in Navi Mumbai?
Our international schools guide covers schools that describe themselves that way. To verify an IB school, search the IB school finder at ibo.org and check the programme listed, because the listing is programme specific. To verify a Cambridge school, use Cambridge International’s Find a School page. We could not open the IB finder ourselves.
Are there unauthorised schools in Navi Mumbai?
News reports say NMMC’s education department has issued notices about schools operating without permission, most recently reported on 21 May 2026. We found no official list we could open, so ask the school for its certificate of recognition and confirm it with the education authority competent for that school and level.
Can a school raise its fees every year?
It depends on the school. Section 6 of the Maharashtra fee Act concerns private unaided and permanently unaided schools. Such a school may declare a binding fee structure at admission, or if it does not, propose a fee of at most the previous year’s fee plus 15%, and increase it again only after two years. A higher increase is allowed only in unforeseen events, with the approval of 76% of parents or of the Executive Committee, with reasons. It is not a general right to raise every fee by 15% a year.
Where do I complain about excess fees?
The Act’s statutory appeal is brought by an aggrieved parents group, meaning parents of at least 25% of the children of the affected standard or school, to the Divisional Fee Regulatory Committee within 30 days, with each parent’s signed authorisation. A late appeal can be entertained for sufficient reasons but not later than 60 days. A single family can raise a concern in writing with the school and the education department, but that is not the statutory group appeal. We found no official page with the Konkan division committee’s contact details, so ask the school education department.
What is the penalty for a school that charges excess fees?
On conviction, for a first offence the Act provides a fine of not less than ₹1 lakh and up to ₹5 lakh or the excess fee collected, whichever is higher. A second or later offence carries a higher fine or imprisonment of three to six months, and the convicted person must refund the excess fee to the student. A complaint alone does not trigger these penalties.
Who can apply under the RTE 25% quota in Maharashtra?
The state portal’s FAQ says children of families with income up to ₹1 lakh and children in the disadvantaged groups, such as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBC and children with disabilities, at a participating school’s entry level. The 2026 documents list says income less than ₹1 lakh, so the exact boundary needs checking in the current year’s notice. The 2026-27 application window closed on 31 March 2026, and the next cycle’s dates were not on the portal when we checked.
What documents are needed for RTE 25% admission?
The 2026 list makes a birth certificate, proof of residence and an Aadhaar card mandatory, and tenants need a registered rent agreement. The other documents depend on the child’s category: caste-based categories need the prescribed caste certificate, a child with a disability needs a certificate of 40% or more, the economically weak category needs an income certificate, and other categories have their own listed documents. A gas book is not accepted as residence proof for 2026-27.
Sources and Verification Date
Sources checked on 3 October 2026. CBSE: the SARAS schools directory and a sample affiliation record. CISCE and IB directories are linked above and blocked our automated access. Statutes: the Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Regulation of Fee) Act, 2011 and section 18 of the Right to Education Act, 2009, both as reproduced on Indian Kanoon because India Code did not open. Maharashtra’s RTE 25% admission portal its 2026 required-documents list and an FAQ file headed 2024-25, both in Marathi, and sections 12 and 13 of the RTE Act. Cambridge International. News: Free Press Journal (21 May 2026, 24 March 2026, 7 June 2025, 24 August 2023 and 26 July 2023) and Pudhari (25 March 2026). The IB and CISCE websites blocked automated access, the UDISE+ and NMMC sites gave no usable data, and we did not find official lists of unauthorised schools or of RTE-participating schools in Navi Mumbai. We have not verified any individual school’s listing. Verify current requirements with the board, the school and the education department before you decide.
