New Delhi:The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Tuesday approved draft norms for conducting Class-10 board exams twice a year from 2026, officials said.
According to officials, the draft norms will now be put in the public domain. They further said that the stakeholders can submit their feedback till March 9 following which the responses would be scrutinized and the policy will be finalised by CBSE.
As per the draft norms, the first phase of the exams will be conducted from February 17 to March 6, while the second phase will be conducted from May 5 to 20.
"Both the examinations will be conducted on full syllabus and the candidates will be allotted the same examination centres in the two editions. Exam fees will be enhanced and collected for both exams at the time of application filing," a senior board official said.
"To further eliminate the high stakes aspect of Board Exams, all students will be allowed to take exams on upto two occasions during any given school year, one main examination and one for improvement, if desired," the draft norms said.
"The first and second editions of the board exams will also act as supplementary exams, and no special exams will be conducted in any circumstances," the official added.
The new National Education Policy (NEP) had recommended that to eliminate the "high stakes" aspect of the board exams, all students will be allowed to take the exams on up to two occasions during any given school year. The draft policy will be hosted on the CBSE website for getting responses from all the stakeholders - schools, teachers, parents, students and others.
Officials said that there will be different question papers for both examinations. "Secondly, there is a fear among students to appear for an exam for the first time, they will also have a second chance and at that time their fear would have reduced and this could help to score more," officials added.
