Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) announced 12th grade result 2026 on Wednesday afternoon.
This year, 17,80,365 students registered for CBSE Class 12 exams, of which 17,68,968 appeared and 15,07,109 students passed. The overall success rate was 85.2%, a decrease of 3.19 percentage points from last year’s 88.39%.
Girls outperformed boys by 6.73 percentage points. Trivandrum recorded the highest success rate of 95.62%, while Prayagraj recorded the lowest level at 72.43%.
Among the Children with Special Needs (CWSN) candidates, the pass rate is 90.16%.
Why did the success rate decrease this year?
Explaining the possible reasons behind the decline, Dr Jyoti Arora, Principal, Mount Abu Public School, said: “The slight decline in CBSE Class 12 results may be attributable to a combination of factors rather than a single reason.”
She added that this may be due to “more stringent and more competency-based assessment practices” as well as “a greater focus on conceptual understanding under the NEP 2020”. She also noted that concerns about linking digital assessment to answer sheets, commonly referred to as “on-screen learning” (OSM), may be overblown.
“It may not be appropriate to associate it only with OSM screening. It would be premature to attribute this trend only to OSM screening or assessment methodology. This pattern indicates a gradual shift from rote learning to application-based assessment,” Arora said.
Praneet Munjali, trustee, Sanskriti Group of Schools, said, “OSM adoption has brought more rigor in the assessment process. This has reduced human errors and is probably the reason behind the change in pass percentage.”
He added: “To come to a final conclusion, we will need to study the trend for at least the next few years and compare it to the average success rates for a few years before the introduction of OSM. This will allow us to come to a definitive conclusion about the real pattern. It is important to highlight at this stage that the introduction of OSM is the right way forward.”
Where to check 12th grade results 2026
Students who appeared for the board exams can access their scores through the official platforms, including results.cbse.nic.in, cbse.gov.in, cbseresults.nic.in, digilocker.gov.in and results.gov.in.
Results are also available on the UMANG mobile app and through SMS services.
