CBSE Tightens Rules on Cheating, Class 10 Gets New Marksheets

CBSE Tightens Rules on Cheating, Class 10 Gets New Mark Sheets: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has significantly tightened its regulations on the use of "unfair means" during the ongoing CBSE Class 10 and 12 board exams 2026. These revised rules aim to make it considerably more challenging for students involved in cheating to successfully pass their examinations. In addition to these stricter measures, the board is also introducing new marksheets for Class 10 students. The changes reflect a focused effort to uphold exam integrity and offer more transparent result reporting.

CBSE Tightens Rules on Cheating, Class 10 gets New Marksheets

CBSE has considerably tightened its rules on the use of "unfair means" in the ongoing CBSE board exams 2026. This makes it harder for students who are caught doing so to pass. The new policy specifically targets a loophole previously exploited by many students.

• Previous Policy: Students caught cheating often had their subject result cancelled. However, they could substitute this with scores from a sixth or seventh additional subject to meet the CBSE passing marks criteria. Data from the 2025 main examinations showed that 30%-40% of candidates booked for unfair means were declared pass through this method, effectively bypassing consequences.

• New Penalties (CBSE Passing Marks Criteria 2026): From 2026, if a candidate is found cheating in any subject, the result for that subject will be cancelled. It cannot be replaced by any other additional subject. Such results will be categorized as a compartment, making it compulsory for the candidate to reappear in that specific subject. These new CBSE 2026 cheating rules apply equally to Class 10 and Class 12 exams.

CBSE Class 10 Marksheet Redesign

The CBSE board is redesigning the Class 10 CBSE marksheets to reflect the new system of holding two rounds of exams. This change aims to provide a clearer and more comprehensive overview of student performance.

The redesigned Class 10 marksheets will display results from both the first and second board examinations. The final result will be based on the best performance across these two attempts. Each marksheet will clearly depict the marks obtained in each exam and the final outcome. Additionally, there is a proposal to shift the column for Internal Assessment to the final result section from the main exam column, streamlining the mark presentation. For Class 12, CBSE has also introduced an on-screen marking system at cbse.onmark.co.in.

CBSE Board Exams 2026 Schedule

CBSE Class 10 and Class 12 board exams for 2026 commenced on February 17 and are scheduled to continue through March. The examination period opened with mathematics exams for both classes. Students should refer to the official CBSE website for their complete and detailed subject-wise schedule.