The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Wednesday announced the Class 12 board examination results for 2026, recording an overall pass percentage of 85.20%, down 3.19 percentage points from last year’s 88.39%.
This year, a total of 1.77 million students appeared in the exams, 76,000 more than last year’s 1.69 million students.
The CBSE Class 12 pass percentage has fluctuated sharply over the past decade, from a low of 73.96% in 2017 to a pandemic-era high of 99.37% in 2021, before stabilizing at 85.20% in 2026 — the lowest in seven years since 83.40% in 2019, and the lowest in the post-Covid era.
The decline comes in the first year of CBSE’s Online Screen Marking (OSM) system for assessing Class 12 answer papers. Under the new system, answer scripts were scanned and uploaded to a digital portal where teachers assessed them on computer screens, digitally inputting marks and annotated answers online, while totals were calculated automatically to reduce human error. Using ÒSM, CBSE evaluated 98,66,622 answer books.
While board officials did not respond to HT’s queries on the reasons for the decline, school principals and teachers gave various explanations behind the decline in the pass percentage.
While some blamed the OSM system, others blamed students not studying for exams.
A school principal in Delhi, who requested anonymity, alleged that the rollout was rushed and teachers were not adequately trained. “CBSE conducted only a limited trial examination in six private schools in Delhi for two days. Many teachers, especially in government schools, were not sufficiently familiar with technology,” the school principal said. Ideally, the OSM should have been implemented next year after broader preparation.”
However, other teachers rejected suggestions that the assessment system alone was to blame.
A Delhi government school teacher who participated in the Class XII assessment, requesting anonymity, said the process was systematic and minimized the chances of arithmetic errors. “The low pass rate has more to do with how students attempt papers than with OSM itself. Students do not take board exams seriously and therefore perform poorly,” the teacher said.
The decline “reflects a more rigorous competency-based assessment and greater focus on conceptual understanding under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, rather than the marking system under the OSM alone,” said Jyoti Arora, principal of Delhi-based Mount Abu School.
Praneet Munjali, a trustee at the Sanskriti Group of Schools in Pune, said OSM provided greater rigor and reduced subjectivity, but cautioned that “conclusions should be drawn only after analyzing trends over several years after the implementation of OSM.”
Dr Sanyam Bhardwaj, Controller of CBSE Examination, said in a press release that the adoption of OSM represents a paradigm shift in examination assessment. “By leveraging technology, CBSE has not only modernized its processes but also enhanced its reputation as a globally trusted education board. This initiative ensures that students receive accurate, timely and fair results, reinforcing CBSE’s vision of excellence in education.”
Read also:CBSE 12th Result 2026: Class 12 results announced on digilocker.gov.in, direct link to check here
Girls once again outperformed boys, with the success rate reaching 88.86% compared to 82.13% for boys, a difference of 6.73 percentage points. In 2025, girls recorded 91.64%, compared to 85.70% for boys.
94,028 students (5.32%) achieved an average of 90% or above, while 17,113 students (0.97%) achieved an average of 95% or above. The number of students placed in the cabin category increased to 163,800 (9.26%), compared to 129,095 last year (7.63%).
Kendriya Vidyalaya recorded the highest success rate of 98.55%, followed by Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya with 98.47%.
Regionally, Thiruvananthapuram topped the country with 95.62%, followed by Chennai (93.84%) and Bengaluru (93.19%), while Prayagraj recorded the lowest with 72.43%.
The success rate in foreign schools also decreased to 90.50%, down from 95.01% in 2025.
“As per the earlier decision taken by the board to avoid unhealthy competition among students, the merit list is not announced by CBSE. The board also does not award Sections I, II or III to its students. However, the board will issue a merit certificate to the top 0.1% of students who scored highest marks in the subjects. The merit certificate will be available in the student’s Digi-Locker,” Bhardwaj said.
CBSE awards certificates to the top 0.1% of students in each subject (English, Mathematics, Physics, History, etc.) who obtain the highest marks in that subject.
The CBSE Class 12 exams were conducted between February 17 and April 10, 2026.
