CBSE mandates 75% attendance for Class 10, 12 students; targets dummy schools

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has tightened the eligibility norms for students appearing in the Class X and XII Board examinations.

The Board has said it is mandatory for the students to have minimum 75% attendance to take up the exams. No student will be allowed to take up the exams without fulfilling academic and attendance requirements.

“Class X and XII are two year programmes of Class IX and Class X and Class XI and Class XII respectively. Accordingly, all subjects should have been studied for 2 years by a student to become eligible for appearing in the examinations,” the Board stated.

In all the subjects offered by the CBSE, internal assessment is a compulsory integral part of the assessment as per National Education Policy-2020.

“It is a two-year long process. If a student does not attend school, his/her internal assessment cannot be done. In the absence of performance in internal assessment, a student's result cannot be declared. Such students, even if they are regular students, will be placed in the Essential Repeat Category,” CBSE said.

The Board has warned affiliated schools against offering subjects without approval. The CBSE offers additional subjects in Class X and XII. In Class X, students can take up two subjects in addition to compulsory five subjects and in Class XII, only one additional subject can be registered by the student.

“Even in affiliated schools, if a school has not taken permission from CBSE to offer any subject and they do not have adequate infrastructure, including teachers, labs, the students will not be permitted to register for such subjects as main or additional subjects,” the Board said.

The move by the CBSE is against the dummy schools which allow students to take up Board exams even if they lag in complying with the 75 per cent attendance norms.

Students who miss the attendance will not be able to take up internal assessments.

These norms increase student participation in classroom activities and will also reduce their dependence on coaching institutes.