Dubai: Following a similar move by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has officially announced the cancellation of all remaining Class 12 board examinations for students in West Asia.
The decision comes as the military conflict involving Iran, Israel, and the US intensifies, leading to severe security concerns across the Gulf region.
The board also said exams that had earlier been postponed will now remain cancelled. CBSE added that the method for declaring results for affected students will be announced separately.
Escalating Tensions Force Unprecedented Move
The cancellation marks a significant shift from the board’s earlier strategy of rolling postponements.
This comes after the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) cancelled the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) and Indian School Certificate (ISC) board examinations scheduled at all centres in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
For the past two weeks, CBSE has deferred exams in short increments, monitoring the prevailing regional situation.
However, with the widening of the conflict, marked by missile strikes and airspace closures, the board determined that conducting physical examinations was no longer safe for the thousands of Indian expatriate students residing in the region.
Shift to Alternative Assessment
According to a circular issued on 15 March 2026, the exams scheduled from 16 March to 10 April 2026 for CBSE-affiliated schools in Bahrain, Iran, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been cancelled.
Much like CISCE’s recent announcement, CBSE will now pivot to an alternative assessment mechanism to determine final scores.
“Examinations which were earlier postponed vide circular dated 01.03.2026, 03.03.2026, 05.03.2026, 07.03.2026 and 09.03.2026 shall also stand cancelled. The mode of declaration of results for Class XII candidates in these countries will be notified separately in due course,” reads the circular from Sanyam Bhardwaj, Controller of Examinations, CBSE.
“The safety of our students is our absolute priority,” a senior CBSE official stated. “Given the extraordinary geopolitical circumstances, we cannot ask students to travel to centres under the threat of regional instability.”
Impact on University Admissions
While parents have expressed relief regarding their children’s safety, many Class 12 students are anxious about how these calculated scores will affect their university applications, particularly for competitive programs in India and abroad.
To address this, the board has indicated that students dissatisfied with their results under the alternative scheme will be allowed to improve their exams once the regional situation stabilises.
