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CBSE recently announced that the 10th class board exam will be conducted twice a year from 2026. The new framework highlights 2 phases of the exam: 1st phase compulsory, 2nd phase optional. They will be conducted in the months of February and May respectively. 

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has announced this new Indian education framework for the benefit of students. This move has been deemed student-friendly and future oriented will change the way lakhs of students are going to appear in board exams in India.

Once the 2026 academic session starts, CBSE will organize Class 10 board exams in two phases:

• First Exam (Mandatory): Scheduled for February, all students must appear for this session.
• Second Exam (Optional): Held in May, this is for students who wish to improve their scores in up to three subjects like Science, Maths, Social Science, or languages.

The result of the 1st phase board exam will be announced in April whereas the 2nd phase exam of May session will be available in June. Notably, the highest mark of the two will be used during the final mark sheet. 

This major reform aligns with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which recommends reducing the pressure of high-stakes board exams by giving students more than one chance within the same academic year. Being the Union Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan termed it as a long overdue move toward lessening the stresses of examinations, getting a more flexible schedule, or a more jovial learning experience.  

Key Features of New Reforms

• Flexibility: Students receive a second opportunity in the same year and there is less reason to wait another year to raise the scores.
• Less Pressure: Having two chances, there is less pressure usually imposed by one high stakes exam, which makes it more student centered.
• Chance to Improve: In May there is also the optional examination where students have the chance to improve their grades in up to three subjects.
• Internal Assessment: shall remain to be done once during the year of study and applicable to both phases of examinations.
• Special Provisions: Winter-bound schools can choose which phase to attempt, and special allowances are made for sportspersons and children with special needs.

What Does This Mean For Students? 

This new reform is significant for students because it will decrease the exam pressure by giving a second chance to them. Choosing a stream after 10th board is a vital step that dictates the future of any average student. Thus, giving them a chance to put in efforts for improving their scores will prove beneficial not only to the student but also the nation. 

In addition, the parents will now have the hope that there will be a more balanced effort being put towards the preparation of board exams with the focus shifting from rote learning to true understanding and performance.

What’s Next?

Unofficially CBSE officials have indicated that if this is successful in Class 10th, then a similar framework for Class 12 can be introduced in the future.

The decision to conduct board examinations to Class 10 twice a year starting January 2026 is a great move towards modernization of school examination pattern of India. It represents an international tendency of the flexible assessment being not so stressful to help the students to learn and act in the best way possible.

To millions of Indian families, this is good news and introduces a brighter, less stressful and opportunity rich future to their children. 

Samridhi Dwivedi, research student at Isabella Thoburn College and a pride of Indian science, was a big fish when she received the prestigious Trojan Horse Award 2025 from Swiss Chemical Society and Ärztinnen and Ärzte für Umweltschutz.

Samridhi's thesis on ultra-fine airborne particles, under Professor Alfred Lawrence, Department of Chemistry, presented a grim picture of the fatal new threat they pose now.

They are minute by-products of routine combustion processes, such as efflux from factory smokestacks or automobile engines, but they find their way deep inside us like poisonous chemicals and carcinogens.

The Trojan Horse effect is what this award has come to be known for, employed to describe this deadly process wherein toxic substances end up getting bound onto infinitely tiny particles, evading our defenses and reaching our circulatory system, much like in the mythological fantasy of the wooden horse of Greek mythology.

We realized through this Samridhi news report how these killer beggars impact the life and existence of people and how one has to take the initial step towards eliminating them.

But above all, the honor calls attention to a problem that touches millions of people, particularly in nations such as India with acute air pollution. It is coupled with a citation and a cash prize of ₹2 lakh.

Samridhi's work is a reminder of the strength of local research to go around the world at a time when clean air and climate health conversations have never been more urgent.

Her success places Isabella Thoburn College in the international community of environmental scientists and recognizes Indian young scientists who have eliminated the world's most dangerous environmental and public health hazards.  Such a feat, as observed through the Trojan Horse Award for Samridhi Dwivedi, motivates young scientists and enables us to make the world a healthier place.

The Centre for Indian and Foreign Languages (CIFL), Delhi University, has commenced its admissions for its highly sought-after part-time certificate foreign language courses for the academic year 2025–26.

The short courses, open to students as well as working professionals, provide intensive training in eight key international languages: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Italian, Spanish, French, German, and Portuguese.

Conducted by Open Learning Development Centre (OLDC), CIFL courses are in collaboration with the Germanic and Romance Studies and East Asian Studies Departments of the university. After successful completion, the students will be awarded a certificate issued by the University of Delhi itself.

ADMISSIONS NOW OP

The online application time is June 16 to July 12, 2025, and the whole admissions process will be online at cifl.oldcdu.ac.in. The applicant should have passed Class 12 or equivalent degree. Admissions would be based on merit, computed on marks obtained in the top four subjects (English or Hindi included).

General category applicants have to have scored a minimum of 50 percent aggregate marks and 45 percent in English or Hindi. Reserved category has relaxation, whereby the cutoff is lower, i.e., 45 percent. Graduates and postgraduates are also given bonus weightage—10 percent and 15 percent respectively—which will be added to their merit score.

Every candidate is entitled to one language course, and the application cost is Rs 200 per course. Every supporting document, including a recent passport photo, 10+2 mark sheets, and scanned signature, must be uploaded while registering.

COURSE DURATION AND FEES

The part-time courses will begin in mid-August 2025 and extend to March 2026. There will be on-campus classes in person, and specific schedules will be provided a week prior to starting.

The course fee is Rs 10,000 with a one-time examination fee of Rs 510. The student must pay a one-time university registration fee of Rs 300 also if he or she is not previously enrolled with DU. Fees paid are non-refundable barring the unlikely scenario of cancellation of the course by the university.

MERIT LISTS AND COUNSELLING

Admissions will be conducted in three rounds:

• First Merit List: July 17 (Counselling: July 18,20)
• Second Merit List: 22 Jul (Counselling: 23 Jul,25 Jul)
• Third Merit List: 27 Jul (Counselling: 28 Jul,30 Jul)

Shortlisted candidates have to accept admission and pay fees within three days of their respective counselling. CIFL has stressed strict compliance with guidelines. The applicants will be made to ensure all the information submitted is a copy of their original documents, and once submitted, no modification is permitted. Change of courses after admission is not permitted, and admission is provisional pending receipt of original documents.

Such students shall be provided with a formal DU student ID card but shall not be eligible to utilize central DU facilities like library usage or hostel accommodation.

The West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) has updated its guidelines for the procedure of Class 11 supplementary exam, bringing with it a significant change for students who are unable to pass Semester 2 papers.

Since the 2024–25 academic session, failing students in the Semester 2 examination have been given a new opportunity to appear for supplementary exams a month after the results are announced.

What was the old system?

Under the previous rules, supplementary exams were available only to those who had failed in any paper in Semester 1. They were held simultaneously with Semester 2 exams in the same year. There was no provision under the previous rules for those who had failed Semester 2—those who failed Semester 2 were asked to repeat the whole year.

What is new now?

Under the new Regulation 8, Semester 2 failing students will now be allowed to write supplementary exams within a month after the Semester 2 exams. This is a new provision for reducing students' academic loss and to help them clear backlogs without repeating the entire year in full.

The new rules will come into force from the 2024–25 academic session and retrospectively for the students who had appeared in the 2025 Semester 2 exams.

The new guidelines have been directed by WBCHSE for all Heads of Institutions (HOIs) to be implemented as a special case with effect from immediately.

But if a student fails in the supplementary exams (either Sem 1 or Sem 2), he/she will have to reappear for both semesters in the following academic session.

The regulation change introduces welcome flexibility to Class 11 students so that they can progress academically without being held up for the entire year due to Semester 2 failures if they clear the supplementary exams within the stipulated time.

Delhi University found itself in the soup after its undergraduate admission form had the word "Muslim" as a 'mother tongue' — without a mention of Urdu, a language according to the Constitution. While the screenshots of the form went viral on social media, DU issued a gushy statement that it was a "clerical error.".

"The University of Delhi would like to offer its sincerest regret for the inadvertent error that has been made in its admission form. We thank you for your vigilance and hope to make the necessary correction. But to interpret ulterior motives in this entirely inadvertent error is quite inappropriate. We implore all not to marinate the University's pluralistic and peaceful environment," said the official press statement.

The entry point had also been closed for a while and then re-set. Officials ensured the form has been re-designed and Urdu has been restored. But all are not sure if it was a technical glitch.

Abha Dev Habib, former member of DU Executive Council, tweeted it wasn't an "innocent mistake". "Mixing religion and language is ignorant and dangerous," she tweeted.

FACULTY CALL IT A DEEPER PROBLEM

Scant numbers of DU professors believe the mistake amounts to anything. Executive Council member Dr Mithuraaj Dhusiya stated, "Such mistakes give a wrong impression about the university as a liberal institution. Urdu is a part of India's cultural heritage."

Kirori Mal College instructor Rudrashish Chakraborty stated the use of the word 'Muslim' in a particular context "misrepresents India's largest minority community". He further clarified that Urdu is a secular language and is spoken by all.

'MOTHER TONGUE' OR 'NATIVE LANGUAGE'?

The professors have also complained about the terms employed. "The 'mother tongue' is a colloquial expression. Academic writing should employ 'native' or 'first language' in the interest of clarity," believed a DU English department teacher.

Releasing a statement, DU added: "We respect your concerns and are willing to iron out a solution to them. it is not to simply attribute ulterior motives to this entirely inadvertent mistake."

The Odisha government has asked all public universities and colleges in the state to observe “Samvidhan Hatya Diwas” on June 25 to mark the 50th year of the imposition of Emergency.

The higher education department, in a letter to the colleges and universities, requested the organization of an awareness march with students and teachers holding placards and slogans invoking constitutional values. They were also requested to hold debates, workshops and lectures on the imposition of Emergency, and the need for constitutional rights and duties.

The letter from the department stated that the declaration of the Emergency on June 25, 1975, remains a grim reminder of the blackest moment in the history of India's democracy. July 11, 2024, has been notified as "Samvidhan Hatya Diwas" by a Union Ministry of Home Affairs notification, the letter added.

Emergency saw a widespread suspension of civil freedoms, undermining of constitutional protections and unparalleled centralization of executive authority. Basic rights were violated, the media muzzled under draconian censorship, (and) thousands of political figures, journalists and civil society activists jailed," the letter stated.

It stated it was necessary to mark the 50th year of the Emergency with "serious reflection and reaffirmed commitment to democratic principles and constitutional ethics.".

Colleges and universites have also been instructed to arrange seminars on the Constitution's Preamble, conduct panel discussions, arrange different competitions, documentary screenings and street plays.

The institutions have also been instructed to maintain attendance in these events and to file records.

The Odisha BJP government has also made grand preparations to commemorate 'Samvidhan Hatya Diwas' in a state-level function. The BJP government of the state previously declared a monthly pension of Rs 20,000 to people who were jailed during the Emergency period declared by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.