Will CBSE board exam pattern change from next year? ‘Action intensified’ on conducting two exams in a year

CBSE Board Exams 2025 Updates: Keeping in mind the recommendations of the National Education Policy 2020, the School Education Department of the Ministry of Education is now working on several missions including board exam reforms, connecting dropout students with the mainstream. The Ministry of Education has held an important meeting with the principals of CBSE schools regarding education policy, National Curriculum Framework (NCF), Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry i.e. APAAR ID, board exams twice a year and other issues.
Sanjay Kumar, Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, says that offline and virtual meetings have been held with about 10 thousand principals of CBSE schools. The issue of conducting exams twice a year was also discussed with them. School principals have been asked to give their suggestions and opinions in writing so that their meaningful suggestions can also be studied. Their opinion will also be given importance in the decision related to board exams. CBSE is also working at its level.

When will CBSE board exams be held twice a year?

It is being told that in accordance with the recommendations of the National Education Policy and on the guidelines of the Ministry of Education, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is also working on a detailed plan. In this connection, Sanjay Kumar, Secretary of the School Department, had a meeting with the principals of the schools along with CBSE officials and experts.

When can board exams be conducted twice in a year? School principals will also give their opinion on this. Recently, UGC has approved the rule of admission twice in a year. To reduce the stress of students, priority is being given to giving maximum options to the students.

Ruma Pathak, Principal of MM Public School, Pitampura, said that all the questions related to education policy and NCF were answered in this meeting. The School Education Secretary has appealed to the schools to make APAAR ID for the students, so that they can get its benefits in future. Along with this, government and private schools can learn best practices from each other. Schools should focus on NCERT books. The principal says that the decision of board exams twice a year will be very beneficial for the students and they will be able to choose the best score from both the exams.

NBT Lens: The real challenge will be to select the window

The Ministry of Education and CBSE are working on conducting board exams twice a year. The real challenge before them is what will be the window for both the exams? Currently, the board exams start from February 15 and continue till the end of March or early April and after that the results are declared in May-June. Engineering exams are also held twice, currently medical entrance exams are held once.

In such a situation, the timing of the first and second board exams will be very important. According to sources, there is no possibility of a semester system. It will not be compulsory for students to give both board exams. It will be up to them whether they give one exam or both. The exam reforms also include the number of multiple questions in the board exam pattern and simplification of the exam process.