CBSE Board Exams 2026: Nearly 46 lakh students will appear for the Class 10 and 12 examinations across India and abroad.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will conduct the Class 10 and Class 12 Board Examinations 2026 beginning February 17, covering students from more than 31,000 affiliated schools in India and 26 countries abroad.
This year, approximately 46 lakh students are expected to take the exams at over 8,074 examination centres worldwide.
Exam Schedule Highlights
- Class 10 exams will commence with Mathematics (Standard and Basic) and conclude on March 10, 2026.
- Class 12 exams will begin with Biotechnology, Entrepreneurship, Shorthand (English), and Shorthand (Hindi) and end on April 9, 2026.
Live Webcast On Exam Guidelines
CBSE has announced that it will host a live webcast on February 13 from 11 am, focusing on the modalities for conducting Board Examinations 2026 and the On-Screen Marking (OSM) system.
The webcast, meant for principals and examination functionaries of CBSE-affiliated schools, will be streamed on CBSE’s official YouTube channel “BoardExams@CBSE”. The session will explain revised examination guidelines, evaluation procedures, and innovative measures introduced this year.
CBSE conducts this annual webcast to ensure smooth coordination at examination and evaluation centres, given the scale and complexity of the board exams.
Key Changes Introduced For 2026
To strengthen the examination and evaluation process, CBSE has introduced several major initiatives this year:
- Second Board Examination for Class 10, allowing students to improve scores or clear failed subjects
- On-Screen Marking (OSM) for Class 12 answer sheets
- Division of Science and Social Science question papers for Class 10 to improve evaluation quality
Under the two-board exam system, students can appear for improvement in a maximum of three subjects during the second examination, scheduled from May 15 to June 1, 2026.
Revised Dates For Postponed Papers
CBSE has postponed some examinations originally scheduled for March 3, 2026, and released a revised timetable:
- Class 10 regional and foreign language papers (including Tibetan, Bhoti, Bodo, Mizo, Kashmiri, German, Japanese, Spanish, Bahasa Melayu) and Academic Electives (Group A2) will now be held on March 11.
- The Class 12 Legal Studies paper will now be conducted on April 10.
Practical And Internal Assessment Deadline
CBSE has also directed schools to complete the conduct and uploading of practical examination, project work, and internal assessment marks for Classes 10 and 12 by February 14, 2026. Schools will not be allowed to delete or correct batch data after this deadline, as the Integrated Payment System (IPS) will be launched immediately thereafter.
Principals have been asked to ensure strict compliance to avoid administrative issues during the examination process.