Key Points
First phase exams planned for February-March 2026, second phase in May 2026
Students failing subjects can take improvement exams while continuing to Class 11
Proposal aims to reduce high-stakes nature of board examinations
Over 2.66 million students expected to register for exams next year
In an official notice, the CBSE said: "National Education Policy, 2020 has recommended that students will be given an opportunity to improve their performance in Board examinations."
This was further discussed in a meeting chaired by Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, where it was proposed that two board exams be held starting from the 2025-2026 academic year for Class 10 students.
A draft policy has been released by the CBSE, and the board has called for feedback from all stakeholders, including schools, teachers, parents, students, and the public. "This draft Policy be hosted on CBSE Website for getting responses from all stakeholders, i.e. schools, teachers, parents, students, and others (General Public etc.). Accordingly, the draft Policy has been developed after wider discussions and is available on CBSE website, cbse.gov.in. Stakeholders may respond to the Draft Policy by 09.03.2025. The responses would be scrutinised and policy finalised," the official notice added.
To reduce the "high stakes" aspect of board exams, the board stated that all students will have the opportunity to appear for the Class 10 exams up to two times in a given academic year - once for the main exam and once for an improvement exam.
The first phase of Class 10 exams for 2026 will be held from February 17 to March 6, with the second phase scheduled from May 5 to 20. A total of 26,60,000 students are registered for the exams next year.
The CBSE further said: "Students not qualified in the 1st examination could be allowed admission in Class 11 and based on the result of the 2nd examination, their admission be finalised. A merit certificate will be issued after 2nd examination. Students qualifying in all 5 subjects will be declared as passed. Students who fail to pass from 1 to 5 subjects in the 1st examination will be placed under the 'Improvement Category' and will be allowed to appear in the 2nd examination to be held in July 2026."
