CBSE cancels Class 12 board exams in Gulf nations amid widening West Asia tensions

The board said the process for evaluating students and declaring results in these countries will be announced later.

• CBSE cancels Class 12 exams in Gulf due to regional crisis
• Result declaration method will be announced separately
• Exam cancellation impacts thousands of Indian students in Gulf

Did our AI summary help?

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has cancelled the Class 12 board examinations for students studying in several Middle East countries amid the ongoing regional crisis.

In a circular issued on March 15, the board said the examinations scheduled between March 16 and April 10 for CBSE-affiliated schools in Bahrain, Iran, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would no longer be held.

The decision also covers papers that had already been postponed earlier this month.

“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,” CBSE Controller of Examinations Sanyam Bhardwaj said in the circular.

The board said the process for evaluating students and declaring results in these countries will be announced later.

“The mode of declaration of results for Class XII candidates in these countries will be notified separately in due course,” the circular added.

The move affects a large number of students enrolled in CBSE-affiliated schools across the Gulf, where many Indian expatriate families rely on the Indian education system.

The decision follows similar action by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), which earlier cancelled ICSE and ISC board examinations scheduled at all centres in the United Arab Emirates amid the deteriorating security situation in the region.