CBSE sets 23 to 28 October for Class 12 exams cancelled in seven Middle East countries

India's Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will hold special Class 12 board exams from 23 to 28 October 2026 for pupils in seven Middle Eastern countries whose papers were cancelled this year because of the regional conflict.

The exams will run in the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Iran. They cover the 40 subjects that were called off in March, 20 of them academic and 20 skill subjects, according to the timetable the board published in a circular dated 8 October.

Admit cards became available on 12 October. Candidates download them with the login they used when they applied, Gulf News reported.

CBSE cancelled all Class 12 board papers in the region in mid-March. It then introduced a special assessment scheme on 27 March, and results under that scheme were declared on 13 May.

Pupils who were unhappy with their assessed marks were given the chance to sit the cancelled papers in person. The board acted after a ruling by India's Supreme Court on a petition brought for affected Gulf students, the Gulf Daily News reported. Its September circular said it would examine all Class 12 candidates in West Asian countries whose results came under the assessment scheme.

Eligible pupils had to register in September through the board's List of Candidates, choosing the subjects they wanted to retake. CBSE has set up one exam centre in each country based on those registrations, Gulf News reported. Neither the board nor the reports gave a figure for how many pupils will sit.

The new marks will not sit alongside the old ones. "The result of this examination shall be final and will replace the earlier performance," Sanyam Bhardwaj, CBSE's controller of examinations, said, according to the Press Trust of India.

Khaleej Times said the sitting is separate from the board's usual supplementary exams, which are mainly for pupils who need to pass a failed subject or improve their score.

The timetable opens on Friday 23 October with political science, economics, mathematics and applied mathematics. Psychology and business studies follow on 24 October. After a break on the Sunday, biology, information technology, marketing, multimedia and artificial intelligence are on 26 October, with home science, informatics practices and computer science on 27 October. English core closes the series on 28 October.

Most papers run from 10.30am to 1.30pm. A few, including physical activity trainer and artificial intelligence, finish at 12.30pm.