CBSE Board Exams 2026: The Class 10 and Class 12 board examinations conducted by the CBSE will commence from tomorrow, February 17. This year, more than 43 lakh students are set to appear - around 25 lakh in Class 10 and 18.5 lakh in Class 12. The exams will be held across 8,074 centres for Class 10 and 7,574 centres for Class 12.
For Class 10 students, the first paper will be Mathematics (Basics) and Mathematics (Standard). Meanwhile, Class 12 students will appear for Biotechnology, Entrepreneurship, Engineering Graphics and Business Studies on the first day.
The Class 10 examinations will conclude on March 10, while the Class 12 exams will end on April 10. In total, students will appear for 83 subjects in Class 10 and 120 subjects in Class 12.
Gender-Wise Participation
Of the 25 lakh candidates appearing for Class 10, approximately 14 lakh are boys and 10.9 lakh are girls. In Class 12, around 10.2 lakh boys and 8.3 lakh girls will be taking the board examinations this year.
Key Guidelines and Updates
The CBSE has advised students to reach their examination centres well before time, keeping traffic conditions in mind. Entry to centres will close sharply at 10 am. The examinations will be conducted in a single shift from 10:30 am to 1:30 pm.
Dress code guidelines differ for regular and private candidates. Students enrolled in schools must wear their prescribed school uniform, while private candidates are permitted to wear light clothing such as shirts or T-shirts.
The board has also introduced On-Screen Marking (OSM) for Class 12 examinations. Under this system, answer sheets will be scanned and uploaded to a secure digital platform for evaluation instead of being physically checked. The new system will be implemented from the 2026-27 academic session.
