See Why CBSE’s decision to conduct two board exams for class 10 students is commendable – CNBC TV18

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has published a draft policy, stating that starting from 2026, students of class 10 can take board exams twice to improve their performance. The first board exams will start from February 17, and the second from 5 May. Both examinations will be conducted on full course. However, practical or internal assessment will be conducted only once. This is with the target of the National Education Policy (NEP 2020), which aims to accommodate students facing challenges such as examination stress or disease.

CBSE has placed this draft policy in a public domain and the board will accept reactions from all stakeholders like teachers, parents, schools, students and public by 9 March this year.

For 2026 board examinations, the list of candidates will be prepared by the end of September 2025 and more than 26 lakh students are expected to write the exam.

Each student gets an opportunity to sit for another exam. If needed, one can get out of another examination. For the second exam, the list of candidates will be made available immediately after the announcement of the results of the first exam and for those who want to get out of the second exam, it can do it at this level. The second exam can be used for those who want to improve their results or use it as a supplementary examination. No special examination will be conducted under any circumstances.

No passing document will be released after the result of the first examination. Passing documents will be issued to the students only after the announcement of the second exam results. If a student does not want to appear for a second exam, the results available in Digilokar for the first exam can be used for their admission in class XI.

Mark Sheet / Passing Certificate will get first exam, second exam, practical / internal assessment and safe marks in grade. Better will also be included in two digits.

This proposal is very helpful from the perspective of students. The clear reason for doing this exercise is to reduce the stress of the students.

Let us look at some causes of stress. Many times, the cause responsible for stress is beyond the control of students and they are only victims of circumstances. We need to understand that we are talking about 26 million students spread across India, living in a very different environment – geographical, socially and economically. Many of them face different types of issues during exams.

Reaching on time is an important factor for the exam. There are many who have to travel long distances to reach the examination centers. Local issues often affect the transport system. Students are subjected to excessive stress when the local transport system is disturbed due to factors such as environmental or social disturbances.

Another very important factor that affects the student’s performance is the mental good of the student during the exam. We are well aware that if a student does not physically fit due to illness, it will affect their performance. But what about mental state? If someone close to a student like father, mother or brother -in -law is admitted to the hospital in critical condition and the student has to go inside and out in the hospital, then what will be his mental state to write the exam? Think about death in your home during the examination period. Even the best prepared students will not be able to perform in such situations.

There are many issues that can come in front of a student. These are not the fault of the student. The grades obtained in such situations do not actually reflect the real ability of the student.

When the entire future of a student depends on the same exam, one can understand the stress that is forming in their brain and it can cause a breakdown. The opportunity for a student to write the exams twice is really very helpful to remove such difficult situations and reduce stress.

We need to appreciate the fact that the entire practice undergoes a very tight program as both examinations include some 26 lakh candidates spread across the country. The examination script requires evaluation, the Marx entry needs to be completed, required required and much more. Efforts made by the work taken by CBSE and teachers and administrative staff are highly commendable. Students and parents should be grateful to their great efforts.

– Author, Dr. V. Premachandran is a member of the Working Group at the Kerala State Planning Board, and a senior companion at the Solar Energy Research Institute, National University of Singapore.

Read their previous articles Here