• Source:JND
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CBSE Board Exams 2026: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has removed the option of allowing private candidates to take an examination in the ‘additional subject’ from the year 2026 board examination. The students noticed this change when CBSE recently published the CBSE Board Exam 2026 form for the private candidates, but there was no option to choose additional subjects in Class 12 board examination 2026. 

 This unannounced action by the Central Board of Secondary Education has been criticised by the students and they said that they have been informed about this earlier in the year. 

There are various students that had already planned their academic and career options around the additional subject option, with some taking a gap year to prepare for various entrance examinations like Joint Entrance Examination,  JEE, which required a different or additional subject combination than what they had in Class 12th board examination 2026. The withdrawal of this option has rendered their preparations, students are extremely disappointed with this decision. 

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) published a notification on September 8, 2025, inviting applications and registrations from Class 10 and 12 private candidates for the upcoming board examination 2026. Whereas the notification lays out the eligibility categories and timelines, students say the application form does not provide the choice of adding an additional subject — an option that was available in previous years registration form for private students.

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For many students, particularly those students who are from the science stream who had studied Physics, Chemistry, and Biology but not Mathematics in Class 12, the additional subject provision had served as a pathway for them to qualify for several engineering and technology courses and programmes. Other students also used it to switch career streams or to qualify a subject marked under Repeat Theory (RT).

The students are expressing their concern over this decision, they are criticising the Central Board of Secondary Education. Here are some of the students' write ups on this decision. 

 ‘This year, without any notice, that option for choosing additional subjects is missing. For those of us who had planned to reappear with the Mathematics, it has closed the only door we had,’ the student wrote.

Another candidate who is preparing for the Joint Entrance Exam, JEE after taking a drop year said: ‘We had studied Mathematics outside school with the understanding that will be required for us to appear as a private candidate. Suddenly that option is gone, and now we may lose eligibility altogether.’

The uncertainty continues for those students who had planned their higher and further education around the availability of this option.

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