The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has introduced several changes to the curriculum, the evaluation system, and the assessment of skill and vocational subjects. One of these changes is the proposal to allow the use of basic calculators in the Class 12 accountancy exam beginning in the 2025–2026 academic year.
This suggestion was made In the 140th meeting of the CBSE's governing council, which was held in December 2024. However, the minutes of that meeting were just recently released to the public.
The CBSE examination committee approved the proposal, which states that "basic, non-programmable calculators will be allowed, limited to functions necessary for typical financial calculations, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and percentage calculations."
"To ensure uniformity and prevent the use of advanced or programmable devices, the Board will provide clear guidelines regarding acceptable calculator models," said the press release. In 2021, the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISEC) allowed Class 12 students to use calculators, however the CBSE let special needs students use them in both Classes 10 and 12.
With this change, the board hopes to improve analytical answers, reduce cognitive burden, conform to international standards, and support the National Education Policies (NEP) emphasis on higher-order thinking abilities.
Important recommendations include introducing a new re-evaluation method for board exams starting in the 2024–2025 academic year and evaluating an on-screen marking (OSM) system for low-volume subjects.
CBSE Examination Committee suggested On-Screen Marking (OSM), i.e., scanning and uploading answer sheets for online evaluation, in an attempt to reduce the time needed to physically transport answer books to evaluation centers. This will make the assessment process faster and more efficient.
The CBSE governing board has approved the idea to introduce OSM on a pilot basis in certain subjects in the main exam for both Classes 10 and 12, as well as for revaluation in mathematics and science or mathematics supplementary examination beginning in the 2024–2025 academic year.
A proposal that allows class 10 students to take both standard and advanced science and social science exams on the same day was additionally approved by the CBSE board. Beginning in the 2026 - 2027 session, the advanced level examinations will be longer and contain more questions.
