New Delhi: According to the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, a policy of conducting exams twice a year for class 10th has been made recently from 2025-26. Due to this, Punjabi language was removed from the Central Board of Education (CBSE) draft.
The decision was reversed after a controversy
The removal of the language sparked a political controversy in Punjab on Wednesday. The policy said that Class 10 board exams will be held twice a year from 2026 to help students improve their marks and reduce study pressure.
In this draft, Punjabi language was not only found ‘missing’ from the list of regional languages, but it was also removed from the list of five main subjects.
Politicians called it an attack on the culture of Punjab
Politicians accused the BJP-led Centre of a direct attack on Punjab’s identity and culture, with AAP leader and state education minister Harjot Singh Bains calling it a deliberate move by the BJP to weaken the status of Punjabi. Congress also accused Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann of remaining silent.
CBSE said- Punjabi will be taught
However, CBSE soon released an additional document stating that Punjabi and other regional languages will continue to be taught as before. However, educationists and teachers of Punjab have expressed concern over the implementation of the new draft.
Education Minister said- conspiracy against Punjab
Punjab Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains said that his department has issued a notification stating that Punjabi will be a core subject in Class 10 in the state and if any school does not have Punjabi as a core subject, its certificate will be cancelled.
Speaking to the media, Bains criticized CBSE and said that CBSE has removed Punjabi from the list of subjects. CBSE cited the education policy draft policy for this.
CBSE 10th rules now
In the CBSE Secondary School Syllabus 2024-25 (before this new draft of 2026), Class 10 students were studying these subjects in five compulsory subjects. Language 1, Language 2, Social Science, Mathematics and Science. Apart from these five, students were also allowed to choose additional third language and skill based subjects.
One of the two compulsory languages (L1 and L2) must be English or Hindi and the other can be any of the 40 regional languages proposed by the board, including Punjabi. Students were also free to choose Hindi as a second language till now, but it was not compulsory.
Punjabi language is compulsory from class 1st to 10th
However, students of CBSE schools in Punjab have to select Punjabi as one of the two main languages till Class 10 by default.
This is because the Punjab Learning of Punjabi and Other Languages Act, 2008, makes it compulsory for all schools to teach Punjabi from Class 1 to Class 10. The law also empowers the government to take action against schools not teaching Punjabi.
So, in Punjab, students mostly selected English as Language-1, Punjabi as Language-2 (two main) and Hindi as Language-3 (additional).
Board exams twice a year from 2026
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will conduct the 10th board examination twice a year from 2026. The board approved the draft related to this on Tuesday. The first exam will be held from 17 February to 6 March, the second from 5 to 20 May.
More than 26 lakh children will benefit from this decision. More than 24 lakh children are appearing in the 2025 exam. The exam has already been conducted on this pattern in session 2021-22. After this the decision was withdrawn.
The board has taken this decision in view of the exam stress of the children. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that taking the exam twice like JEE will benefit the children mentally. If the score is low once, they will be able to improve it the second time.