NEW DELHI, October 6 — The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Tuesday notified the formal operational architecture for conducting biannual board examinations for secondary (Class 10) and senior secondary (Class 12) cohorts commencing from the 2026-27 academic session, directly operationalizing key structural mandates of the National Education Policy (NEP 2020).
Under the dual-administration framework devised in conjunction with the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE), students will be provided two formal examination sittings within a single academic cycle—Term-1 conducted in November–December and Term-2 in February–March. Candidates will have the sovereign discretion to appear in either or both sessions, with the apex score recorded in any subject retained for compilation of their cumulative final scholastic transcript.
The examination blueprint reinforces the shift away from rote memorization by mandating that at least 50 percent of all test items consist of Competency-Based Questions (CBQs), encompassing scenario-based application problems, source-based case studies, and structured analytical reasoning. Internal formative assessments, laboratory practicals, and scholastic portfolios will be continuously uploaded and audited via the Ministry of Education's centralized Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry (APAAR) interface.
Educational governance reforms under NEP 2020, pedagogical transformations under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act 2009, and the administrative composition of central examining boards are prominent subjects across CTET, KVS recruitment exams, and UPSC Civil Services (GS-II: Social Justice & Education). Candidates should note that CBSE was originally constituted in 1929 as the Board of High School and Intermediate Education for Rajputana before its reconstitution into the Central Board of Secondary Education under the Union Government in 1952.