New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education has scheduled to conduct the CBSE Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) 2026 exam on February 7 and February 8. Due to an increase in the number of CTET applications, the board has made the decision to hold the February 2026 session exam in two days.
Earlier, the CTET exam 2026 was set to be held only on February 8. The exam will be conducted in a total of 140 cities across the country. The board has notified that no request for change of exam city, centre or date by the candidates will be entertained under any circumstances.
CBSE CTET 2026 schedule, timings
| Date | Paper | Timings |
|---|---|---|
| February 7, 2026 | Paper 2 | 9:30 AM to 12 noon |
| February 7, 2026 | Paper 1 | 2:30 PM to 5 PM |
| February 8, 2026 | Paper 2 | 9:30 AM to 12 noon |
| February 8, 2026 | Paper 1 | 2:30 PM to 5 PM |
Candidates are advised to reach the CTET exam centre at least one hour before the exam begins. The admit card and original identity proof are mandatory documents for students to carry on the exam day.
Why CTET exam is conducted?
The CTET exam is conducted to shortlist candidates to teach in Class 1 to Class 8 in central government schools and other institutions that accept the CTET scores. There are two papers in the exam- paper 1 is for primary Class 1 to Class 5 and paper 2 for upper primary Class 6 to Class 8.
The exam is held in a total of 20 languages which include English, Hindi, Assamese, Tamil, Telugu, Tibetan, Manipuri, Marathi, Bangla, Garo, Khasi, Malayalam, Mizo, Nepali, Oriya, Gujarati, Kannada, Punjabi, Sanskrit and Urdu.
As per reports, the board may include the Maithili language soon as an option in the paper. This development came during a National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) meeting where a proposal related to Maithili was passed.