Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, June 25: In a bid to make the board examinations less stressful for the young students, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided to introduce a new system from the 2026-27 academic year for the students of Class 10 conducting the final exams twice a year.
The new system would give the successful students a second opportunity to try to further improve their scores, the CBSE Board announced on Wednesday.
CBSE’s decision is in line with the National Education Policy 2020 recommendation that to further eliminate the ‘high stakes’ aspect of Board Exams, all students be allowed to take Board Exams on up to two occasions during any given school year, one main exam and one for improvement, if desired.
Under the new structure, the first exam will be held in February and will be mandatory, while the second exam in May will be optional for students who wish to improve their performance. CBSE Examination Controller Sanyam Bhardwaj said, “The first phase will be conducted in February and second in May. The results for the two phases will be announced in April and June, respectively.”
“It will be mandatory (for students) to appear for the first phase while the second phase will be optional. Students will be allowed to improve their performance in any three subjects out of science, mathematics, social science and languages,” he added. For winter-bound schools, students will be allowed to appear in either of the two phases. The internal assessment will continue to be held only once during the academic session.
Rahul Singh, CBSE Chairman said, “While it is mandatory for students to appear in the first board examination which will be conducted in mid-February, all students who pass the first board examination and are eligible will be allowed to improve their performance in any of the three subjects out of Science, Mathematics, Social Science and two language papers. The second exam is purely optional and additional in nature.”
CBSE officials stated that since 2019 the national board has been offering an opportunity for students to write an improvement exam for any two subjects (including vocational subjects like singing and so on). However, in the new scheme proposed by CBSE, students can sit for an improvement exam only in three of the aforementioned academic subjects. “When we analysed the results database, we realised that students were already scoring decent marks in vocational subjects, and a need was felt for offering improvement exams in academic subjects. Offering an improvement exam in up to three subjects will offer students a 60 per cent opportunity to enhance their scores,” Dr Bhardwaj added.
Officials also said if a student has not appeared in three or more subjects in the first mandatory board exam, then s/he will not be allowed to appear in the second (improvement examination). “This is to ensure that students do not go opportunity shopping and take the first mandatory board exam seriously,” Mr Singh emphasised.
Dr Bhardwaj said those students who do not appear or fail in three or more subjects will be placed in the ‘Essential Repeat,’ category and can take the main exam only in the next academic year. “Whereas, for students who do not appear or fail in one or two subjects will be placed in the Compartment category and will be allowed to appear in the second [improvement)] examination,” he said.
Officials also said the CBSE students get three attempts to clear ‘Compartment,’ status. “For the academic year of 2025-26, compartment exams will happen as usual in July and results will be declared in August. However, from 2026-27 onwards, the first compartment attempt exam will be merged with the newly proposed the second exam (improvement exam) and will occur earlier in June. There will be no more exams in July,” Mr Singh explained.
For Compartment students the second attempt will coincide with the ensuing year’s main board exam, and their third attempt will yet again coincide with that year’s improvement exam schedule.
Mr Bhardwaj also said students who have passed by replacement of the subject, but want to improve their performance in the subject in which they did not pass will be given an opportunity to sit in the second improvement exam. “For instance, if a student did not pass in Maths, and passed by appearing for a replacement subject, s/he will get an opportunity to pass in Maths too, if it is mandatory for the student to show passing marks in Maths for pursuing higher studies,” he explained.
The CBSE had released the draft norms in February and invited feedback from schools, teachers, and other stakeholders. The final approval comes as part of efforts to make board exams less stressful. Last month, the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had also hinted that the CBSE would conduct Class 10 board examinations twice a year starting in 2026, in a bid to create a more stress-free learning environment.
