The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has cancelled Class 10 board exams in several West Asian countries due to the ongoing war between Iran and the US and Israel. For Class 12, the board has postponed the March 7 exam and will review the situation before taking a call on papers scheduled from March 9 onwards.
Over 150 CBSE-affiliated schools in Bahrain, Iran, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will be affected by the decision. The board will notify the mode of declaration of results for thousands of affected students.
CBSE conducts the Class 10 and 12 board exams annually in India and in select foreign centres where its affiliated schools operate. The Gulf region constitutes the largest overseas cluster of CBSE schools.
The postponement and cancellations marked a rare mid-session disruption to overseas board examinations. In recent years, the CBSE altered schedules mainly during extraordinary circumstances, including the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
Class 10 and 12 board examinations of CBSE began on February 18, with over 4.37 million students appearing for the exams.
