CBSE Likely To Conduct 10 Class Board Exam Twice A Year Starting 2026

Recently, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has proposed that students of Class 10 can appear for Board examination twice, starting the academic year 2025-26. This announcement aligns with the National Education Policy, 2020, which has recommended that students should be given an opportunity to improve their scores in Board examinations.

In line with this, a meeting was organized in the Ministry of Education, chaired by Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, and attended by CBSE officials as well as key representatives of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS), and Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS).
Key Decisions Made In The Meeting:

Two Board Exams Annually - Class 10 students will be allowed to take Board exams twice a year from 2025-26.
Draft Policy Development - A detailed policy outlining the new system will be created.

Public Consultation - The draft policy will be uploaded on the CBSE website to gather feedback from students, teachers, schools, and the general public.

Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan highlighted that this initiative is a step toward making exams less stressful while ensuring a more balanced and comprehensive evaluation process. He emphasized that giving students multiple attempts at the Board exams would allow them to perform at their best without unnecessary pressure.

The draft policy has now been made public, and stakeholders can submit their feedback until March 9, 2025. After considering the responses, CBSE will finalize and implement the new examination system.

Key Highlights Of The Proposed Policy

Exam Dates - The first phase of the Class 10 Board exam will begin on the first Tuesday after February every year. For 2026, the exams will take place from February 17 to March 6. The second phase will be conducted from May 5 to May 20.

Exam Duration And Participation - The entire examination process will last for 34 days, covering 84 subjects. Around 26.6 lakh students are expected to take part in the 2026 CBSE Class 10 exams.

Subject Groups For Class 10 - CBSE has categorized subjects into four groups:

• Language Group - English, Hindi
• Elective Group - Science, Mathematics, Social Science
• Regional & Foreign Languages - French, Sanskrit, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Spanish, and more
• Other Subjects - Elements of Bookkeeping, Computer Applications, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, and more

According to CBSE, both examinations will cover the full syllabus, and students will be assigned the same exam centers for both attempts. The exam fees will be enhanced and collected in advance for both exams at the time of application submission.

A senior CBSE official stated that no separate supplementary exams will be conducted. Instead, the second Board exam will serve as a reattempt for students who wish to improve their scores.