Holding CBSE Class 10 twice can lead to ‘paper leaks, irregularities’, warns parliament panel

NEW DELHI: The parliamentary panel on education has expressed concern about the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) draft policy on holding CBSE Class 10 board exams twice a year. Its main concerns are with the proposal for “enhancement of examination fees” and conducting the other subject examinations over two-three days which, they fear, can lead to “question paper leaks and other irregularities”.

The panel also looked into other autonomous bodies functioning under the ministry of education. It raised questions about the number of vacant teaching and non-teaching posts in the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS), Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (JNV), National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) and CBSE. In the case of KVS and JNV, the panel also has highlighted increased dependency on “contractual staff”.

The panel headed by Congress MP Digvijaya Singh, which submitted the report in the parliament on March 26, also wants enhancement of the National Merit Scholarship scheme to Rs.36,000 per annum, as against Rs.12,000 provided at present.

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CBSE Class 10 board exams twice

In February this year the national board issued a draft policy on holding two rounds of board exams for CBSE Class 10 from 2026.

The proposal talks about collecting fees from students for both the exams irrespective of whether the student decides to appear in both. Educators have also raised objections against the proposal.

The committee “recommends that the examination fees not be hiked for all students, but only for those who are giving an additional attempt in the board examinations. Moreover, given CBSE’s considerable surplus revenues, there may be an occasion to reduce the fees charged to students for exams”.

As per the draft, CBSE has proposed dividing subjects into two major groups. Except science, mathematics, social science, Hindi, and English, other subjects will be divided into two major groups – regional and foreign languages in one group and the rest in another. CBSE will conduct exams of minor subjects two to three times on two or three days, based on the choices of candidates.

“This offers potential for question paper leaks and other irregularities which must desperately be avoided. The committee recommends further thought be given to the system to make it foolproof,” it stated.

JNV, KV teacher vacancies

The panel noted that despite the previous parliamentary committee recommending filling up vacancies in 2023, the autonomous bodies have not complied. The KVS and JNVS manage centrally-funded networks of schools.

In case of CBSE, out of the total 1,795 sanctioned posts, 779 posts are vacant – 43.39% of the total sanctioned strength.

“The Committee also observes that only 23 and 20 vacancies have been filled up during 2023 and 2024, respectively. The committee takes serious note of the casual approach of department and CBSE with respect to recommendations of the committee and directs the Department of School Education and CBSE to fill up the vacancies including backlog vacancies in mission mode and in timebound manner at the earliest and latest by the end 2025,” it states in its report.

At NCERT, 146 posts of academic staff are vacant as against the sanctioned strength of 529. Vacancies include many in reserved categories.

In KVs, out of a total sanctioned strength of 56,810, there are 8,977 posts of teaching and non-teaching staff vacant. Of these Kendriya Vidyalaya vacancies, 7,414 posts are of teaching staff and 1,563 of non-teaching staff.

“KVS are exemplary/ model schools in the country and such a large number of vacancies inevitably hamper its functioning and reputation,” the report added.

KV, JNV: Contract teachers

The committee also expressed concern about the sluggish pace of JNV and KV recruitment and their increasing dependency on contractual staff.

In KVS, there were 3,404 contractual teachers during the academic year 2023-24 which increased to 6,734 during 2024-25.

In the case of JNV the number of teachers appointed on contractual basis has started increasing recently, as the table below shows.

Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya teachers on contract

“The contractual teachers cannot give their 100% to their institutions and cannot concentrate on teaching jobs when they are in quest of permanent jobs due to insecurity and lesser pay in contractual jobs. It will also adversely affect the quality of education imparted by them and the institution itself. Further, appointments on contractual basis undermine the constitutional provision of reservation for SC, ST, OBC, EWS, PwD etc. in these jobs,” the report states.

The teaching and non-teaching vacancy in JNV stood at 6,858 out of a total sanctioned strength of 27,676 which constitutes 24.77%.

“The Committee further notes that not even a single recruitment for vacant teaching and non-teaching posts has taken place during 2023-24 and for non-teaching posts nil recruitment has been done during 2022-23 in JNVs even though COVID-19 phase has ended,” the report stated.

NCTE and permanent recruitment

While in the case of NCTE the panel has asked the department to lift the directive on no “permanent recruitment” given by the secretary in September 2020. The body has 63 vacancies as against the sanctioned strength of 123.

The panel has also recommended that the body assist bodies like KV and JNV to fill vacancies for teachers in subjects like physics and chemistry.

“The NCTE could assist with issues such as this by creating a national registry of in-service and prospective teachers, each one with an APAAR Id or some equivalent unique identification, that tracks teachers, their training, experience, and disciplinary expertise. This can help clear inefficiencies in the labour market for teachers, and provide clear data on where career opportunities exist for prospective teachers,” said the report.

Raise NMMS scholarship

National Means cum Merit Scholarship Scheme (NMMSS) – or, NMCM scholarship –

is a central sector scheme, fully funded by the union government. It provides Rs. 12,000 scholarships to meritorious students from economically weaker sections to arrest their drop out at Class 8 and encourage them to continue their education to the secondary stage.

“The Committee is of the view that the amount of Rs. 12,000 per annum as scholarship under NMMSS is very low in view of inflationary trends in the country and the department should sincerely consider and increase the amount of scholarship to Rs. 36,000/- per annum immediately. The Department should also relax the income ceiling criteria under the scholarship in view of inflation and to accommodate more children under the scheme,” report stated.

The committee pointed out that despite increasing enrollment of students, allocation for the NMMSS scholarship has been stagnant since 2019-20.

In 2025-26, the scheme has an allocation of Rs 374 crore, which is Rs 3 crore less than BE 2024-25 but Rs 20 crore higher than the RE 2024-25.

“The committee feels that it would have adverse and demoralising impacts on students from disadvantaged communities like SCs, STs, OBCs, EWS, minority etc. The Committee also observes that the number of scholarships has gone down in recent years in comparison to 2019-20,” the committee noted.