CBSE explains how two Class 10 board exams 2026, on-screen marking for Class 12 will work

Ahead of the CBSE Board exam 2026, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) organised a live webcast to explain the three newly introduced initiatives – conducting the Class 10 board exam twice, on-screen marking for Class 12, and division of Class 10 social science and science question papers.

The CBSE will administer the Class 10 and 12 board exams 2026 for approximately 46 lakh students from February 17 to April 10 in 8,074 exam centres across India and 26 countries abroad.

“Conducting exam at such a large scale requires foolproof planning and successful execution at the examination and the evaluation centers,” the CBSE Controller of Examination, Sanyam Bhardwaj, explained why it becomes essential to communicate the amended policies and innovative measures introduced, with all the functionaries involved during the Examinations and evaluation.

The CBSE exam controller said the motto of this year will be: “Smart exams, smarter evaluation – naye Bharat ki pehchan’.

Also read CBSE board exams twice a year from 2025-26; 2 subject groups, 'better of two marks' in draft policy

Three major changes in CBSE Board Exam 2026

The CBSE Board has introduced three major initiatives for the academic year 2026.

Two board exams 2026 – CBSE announced that it will conduct the Class 10 board exam twice from 2026 – first phase from February 17 to March 6 and second phase from May 5 to May 20 – for over 20 lakh students. The decision to hold the board exam twice for Class 10 was taken to help students improve their marks without losing a year.

On-screen marking for Class 12 – CBSE has introduced on-screen marking for checking the Class 12 board exam answer scripts. However, Class 10 answer sheets will be checked in physical mode only, it clarified.

Class 10 question paper split – Two subjects, science and social science, cover different disciplines. While science has three disciplines, physics, chemistry, biology, the social sciences subject includes history, geography, economics, and political science.

Even though these subjects are taught by separate teachers in schools, students attempt one composite paper. The board felt that this does not do justice to the students, and decided to prepare the questions by the concerned subject experts only and will be clubbed by moderators at the time of finalising the paper.

Also read CBSE adopts new re-evaluation process, split Class 10 science question papers; will test on-screen marking

How CBSE's on-screen marking will work

Before the actual evaluation begins, the first day will be dedicated to discussing the marking scheme, conducting mock evaluations to eliminate variation in assessment, and familiarising evaluators with the digital system.

Under the evaluation hierarchy, one set of answer scripts will be overseen by a Head Examiner (HE) and an Additional Head Examiner (AHE), along with three evaluators. The three evaluators under one AHE will be designated as Evaluator 11, Evaluator 12, and Evaluator 13.

“The responsibilities of evaluators remain unchanged,” Sanyam Bhardwaj said, but the digital system is expected to provide more time for checking and reduce stress.

The marking scheme will be made available to examiners in both digital format and hard copy. Take a look at how the answer key will look like.

CBSE Class 10, 12 marking scheme 2026.

A system-generated OTP will be sent directly to the examiner’s registered mobile number through a system-to-system process. This page will be accessible to all authorised evaluators.

CBSE Class 10, 12 subject-wise evaluation report.

Teachers have been asked to send an email by tomorrow by 5 pm to info.cbseexam@cbseshiksha.in if they want to know more about the initiatives. He said that the board will develop FAQs and circulate them.