CBSE New Draft Raises Concerns on Hindi & English Compulsory in Class 10 Exam

Updated on Mar 03, 2025 11:58

CBSE is preparing to conduct board exams for over 24 lakh class 10 students in 2025, covering 84 subjects. By 2026, the number of students is expected to increase to around 26 lakh, with the same number of subjects.

Kolkata: CBSE has proposed a new plan to conduct CBSE class 10 board exams twice a year starting from 2025-26. Compared to the current curriculum for 2024-25 listed on the CBSE website, there seems to be a change in the language papers for class 10 exams.

Direct Link: CBSE New Draft for Class 10 (Out)

In the new Class 10 draft policy, CBSE plans to designate English and Hindi as the main languages as Language 1 and Language 2. Other languages, such as Tamil, Bengali, French, and German, will be grouped under a separate category called "Regional and Foreign Languages." This means English and Hindi may become compulsory for the class 10 exam, while the other languages will be treated differently.

CBSE's draft policy, released on Tuesday, proposes holding the first set of exams from February 15 to March 7, with results declared by April 20. The second set of exams would take place from May 5 to 20, and results would be announced by May 30. This means students will have two exam periods in one year with quick result announcements.

What is the CBSE New Draft?

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has proposed a major change in its exam system. Starting from 2026, class 10 board exams will be held twice a year, which means students will have two chances to take their exams within a single academic year.

CBSE's draft plan suggests that all students must take their complete set of subjects in the first exam phase. The second exam phase is designated for two types of students: those who have passed but want to improve their scores, and those who have failed in 1-5 subjects and need to retake class 10 exam. This change follows the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which aims to reduce the pressure of board exams by giving students more chances to perform better.

Scheme Proposed by CBSE:

Class 10 board exams will begin from the first Tuesday after February 15 every year.
In 2026, around 26.6 lakh class 10 students are expected to appear for the exams.
Class 10 exam will cover the fulll syllabus and textbooks currently being used in schools, including Group 1 and Group 2.
Group 1: Includes regional languages (like Tamil, Bengali) and foreign languages (like French, German).
Group 2: Includes all other subjects (except Science, Mathematics, Social Science, Hindi, and English).
Exams for Science, Mathematics, Social Science, Hindi, and English will be held on fixed dates, just like they are now.
Regional and Foreign Languages exams will be conducted in one sitting on a single day.
Exams for the remaining subjects will be held 2-3 times, depending on student choices. Students will get exam dates assigned by CBSE based on their subjects. They cannot choose their exam dates.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Ans: The full draft policy is available on CBSE official website. Go through the article, you will get to know about new CBSE draft police, as well as direct link also provided in it. Use it to visit official draft schemes.

Ans: Students are worried about making Hindi compulsory. It could be unfair to students from non-Hindi speaking states, as they may find it harder to learn and perform well in the subject. They also feel this could add extra pressure on students and suggest that students should be allowed to choose their preferred languages instead of Hindi.

Ans: CBSE is making Hindi and English compulsory for class 10 exam because they are important languages in India. Hindi is widely spoken in the north, and English helps people from different states communicate. This step aims to bring people together and create better understanding across the country.