How to Build a CBSE/ICSE Affiliation Laboratory

So, you are aspiring to build a CBSE/ICSE affiliated school? You probably already have completed the necessary procedure to get CBSE affiliation (or ICSE), and got the land and infrastructure and safety certificates all ready to go. But one thing may stump you ‒ what about the laboratories?

Both CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) and ICSE (Indian Certificate of Secondary Education) are both prestigious boards which have been shouldering a lot of the educational sector responsibilities in India.  They both have quite strict regulations on how to build a school lab ‒ and you need to conform to these CBSE ICSE regulations if you want to get affiliation with them.

According to the  new way education is changing in India , all new schools opening in the country should have a robust laboratory infrastructure. The CBSE and ICSE boards are pioneers in this pathway. And they do have some very specific rules that dictate exactly what you need to make a CBSE or ICSE affiliated school lab for the secondary/higher secondary level. So, what are the rules to make a CBSE ICSE affiliated school lab? Let’s discuss.

CBSE & ICSE Bye-laws for Laboratory

According to the bye-laws one can find in the respective websites of CBSE and ICSE boards, the regulations you will need to follow are these:

Suitability of Rooms

• Lab requirement: One composite or science lab for secondary level; three separate laboratories each for physics, chemistry, and biology subjects for senior/higher secondary level.
• Room size: 9 meters by 6 meters (30’ x 20’ approx), 
  • Totalling at least 600 square feet or 54 square meters
• Accommodation: at least 30 students (excluding the lab assistant and teacher/instructor)

Do note here that the minimum dimensions given here (600 sq.ft.) is not much big for the minimum crowd (30 students plus teacher). A laboratory is not a place for crowding and congestion; so, it makes sense to build the room rather oversized than tight-spaced.

Also, if your school is quite big and you need to teach a lot of students at once, then you are well advised to split your labs into multiple rooms. For example, handling 60 kids with access to dangerous chemicals at once is not a good idea ‒ better split them up into two labs of 30 each. Generally, Labkafe recommends that you keep your lab accommodation down to no more than 40 per room.

Suitability of Furniture

Any respectable school laboratory should have the following types of furniture installed:

1. Student workbenches
2. Demo workbench or teacher’s workbench
3. Lab assistant’s table
4. Storage cabinets
5. Accessories (chairs or lab stools, peg boards, eye wash etc.)

For each laboratory room you will have to decide what kind of lab workbench should go into that room ‒ wet lab tables or dry lab tables. Physics lab requires dry lab tables while chemistry and biology labs require wet lab tables. Composite or science labs would require both types in equal numbers. And if you are building a math lab or geography lab, then there are special tables for them as well. Our  lab furniture buying guide will tell you more about what kind of furniture you need for CBSE or ICSE labs.

You should note one thing. The regulations clearly state that your lab should have some storage area inaccessible to students, to store dangerous chemicals. Which means, your chemistry and composite labs should have at least one locked storage solution.

Suitability of Safety/Infrastructure

According to the bye-laws, a CBSE or ICSE affiliated laboratory should have the following:

• Safety precautions like fire extinguishers and eye wash stations
• Utility lines like water and gas
• Easy access to running water
• Ventilation capacity like exhaust fans (multiple)
• Proper access to exit 
• Enough space between workbenches to move around easily

Suitability of Lab Equipment

It should go without saying that without proper lab equipment and apparatus a laboratory is meaningless. Therefore, each laboratory should be equipped to the hilt with all the lab equipment, apparatus, glassware, machines, support items, and consumables that the students would need to conduct all the necessary practical experiments, demonstrations, and activities in the CBSE or ICSE curriculum. 

You can, of course, manually make a list of all the equipment you need for each lad. But it will be a grueling, time-consuming exercise because there are so many different types of work one needs to do in a CBSE/ICSE affiliated lab! We understand this, and so we provide an easy and quick solution to this problem.

Labkafe offers preconfigured  lab equipment packages for each and every CBSE and ICSE laboratory, which we can install in your lab setup and voila ‒ your laboratory is good to go! You will need the following packages for your school if you are looking to get a CBSE/ICSE affiliation:

Each of these lab packages are built carefully by our lab experts to meet the affiliation criteria of the respective board. By default, the packages are configured for 30 students, but you can change that easily. What’s more, the packages are very much flexible and you can configure the list of composite, physics, chemistry, or biology lab equipment and apparatus in any way you wish.  Contact us today and we will be happy to assist you throughout the procurement process.

Checklist to Build CBSE/ICSE Affiliated Laboratory

1. Is the room of the right size/dimensions? (minimum is 9m by 6m)
2. Does the laboratory room have easy entry/exits?
3. Does the room have the necessary utility lines? (electricity, water, gas)
4. Does the room have an adequate number of lab workbenches, designed in a proper way?
5. Does the lab have workbenches for the lab attendant/assistant and the teacher?
6. Are the workbenches adequate for the requirements of the students?
7. Are the lab furniture fire retardant and spill resistant?
8. Is there enough space for easy foot traffic?
9. Is there good enough ventilation?
10. Is there emergency support available? (Fire extinguisher, eye wash, first aid kit)
11. Is there enough lab safety equipment available? (safety glasses, gloves, mask, lab coat)
12. Are there enough lab storages available to hold all the equipment and apparatus?
13. Does the lab have the proper equipment and apparatus to cover the whole syllabus?
14. Does the lab have enough consumables and supplies to last the whole school year?
15. Are the chemicals within their expiry date?
16. Are dangerous laboratory goods kept out of reach of children?
17. Does the lab have a display area for displaying teaching boards/charts?
18. Does the room have some space for the students to deposit their bags?
19. Is there an emergency plan in place?
20. Is the room aesthetically pleasing? (Decorated with good lab wallpaper, side stickers, charts and pictures, etc.)

The above checklist can help you build a school lab from scratch, or to renovate your old lab. Our experts can help you get through the list and check off each item. Do make sure that the labs you are building for CBSE/ICSE affiliation have all the necessary lab equipment they need ‒ as stated above, our lab packages can be very helpful to you to fill up your lab with exciting equipment and apparatus quickly!