West Asia crisis: How CBSE will assess Class 10 students in Gulf countries amid conflict

CBSE said marks will be calculated based on how many exams a student appeared for, using an average method for the remaining subjects.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has released the assessment scheme for Class 10 students in the Middle East region whose board examinations were cancelled earlier this month.

As per the official notification, the board will now declare results based on the number of exams a student was able to appear for, using an average-based evaluation method for the remaining subjects. In simple terms, CBSE will use the marks from the exams a student has already written to calculate scores for the subjects they could not appear for.

The development comes after CBSE cancelled the remaining Class 10 board exams in the Middle East region including Bahrain, Iran, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, following a review of the security situation amid the ongoing US-Israel-Iran conflict in West Asia.

While examinations conducted between February 17 and February 28 were completed successfully, the remaining papers, originally scheduled up to March 11, could not be held due to escalating tensions and safety concerns across the region.

What the assessment scheme says

CBSE has clarified that this scheme is applicable only for Class 10 students, while the assessment plan for Class 12 will be announced separately at a later date. 

The evaluation will depend on how many exams a student has successfully appeared for:

• Students who appeared in all exams:  Their results will be declared based on their actual performance in the examinations.

• Students who appeared in 4 exams: Marks will be calculated using the average of the best three subjects, and applied to subjects that could not be conducted.

• Students who appeared in 3 exams: Results will be based on the average of the best two subjects for the remaining papers.

• Students who appeared in only 2 exams: Their result will be calculated using the average of marks obtained in those two subjects. 

Special categories and exceptions

CBSE has also outlined provisions for specific cases:

• Private candidates and compartment students will be assessed under similar criteria depending on the number of exams taken.

• Students registered in 2025 or earlier who appeared in only one or two subjects will have results declared accordingly, while those with pending exams may be allowed to appear in a second phase of examinations.

• Students who shifted exam centres to other countries will have their results based on their performance in the exams they appeared for. 

The board has stated that internal assessment marks, already submitted by schools, will be considered as part of the evaluation process.

Importantly, CBSE has made it clear that the results prepared using this scheme will be final. No special examinations will be conducted beyond the board’s existing policy

Students will, however, be allowed to improve their performance through the second board examination cycle, as per norms 

What next?

The notification notes that the results of Middle East students will be declared along with the rest of CBSE Class 10 results, though no specific date has been announced yet. 

While this scheme brings clarity for Class 10 students affected by the disruption, Class 12 students are still awaiting a separate assessment framework, which CBSE says will be communicated in due course.