The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) issued some guidelines for the minimum attendance a student requires to appear for the CBSE board exams 2026. CBSE states that all students registered to appear in the upcoming Class 10 and Class 12 board examinations 2026 should meet the minimum required attendance to be eligible for the upcoming board examinations.
As per the official guidelines issued by CBSE, a major eligibility for class 10 and 12 students is that they must maintain at least 75 per cent attendance in regular school. This 75 per cent of minimum attendance is counted from the day of commencing teaching of Classes 10 and 12 upto the first of the month preceding the month in which the examination of the Board commences.
Students should remember that no student from any school affiliated to the Board will be eligible to take the
examination unless they have completed 75 per cent of attendances counted from the opening of class 10/ 12 upto the first of the month preceding the month in which the examination commences in the subjects
of internal assessment.
Candidates taking up a subject(s) involving practical examinations will also be required to have put in at least 75 per cent of the total attendance for practical work in the subject in the laboratory.
In the case of migration from other institutions, attendance at the institution/ school recognised by the Education Department of the State/ Union Territory from which the candidate migrates will be taken into account in calculating the required percentage of attendance.
What if my attendance is short?
If a candidate’s attendance falls short of the prescribed percentage, the Head of the School may submit the student’s name to the Board provisionally. If the candidate is still short of the required percentage of attendance within three weeks of the commencement of the examination, the Head of the Institution shall report the case to the Regional Officer concerned immediately.
If in the opinion of the Head of the Institution, the candidate deserves special consideration, they may submit the student’s recommendation to the Regional Officer concerned. This should be done no later than three weeks before the commencement of the examination for condonation of shortage in attendances by the Chairman, CBSE, who may issue orders as he may deem proper. The Head of the School in the letter requesting for condonation of shortage in attendance, should give the maximum possible attendance by a student counted from the day of commencing teaching of Classes 10/ 12 (beginning of the session) upto the first of the month preceding the month in which the examination of the Board commences, attendance by the candidate in question during the aforesaid period and the percentage of attendance by such a candidate during the aforesaid period.
Cases of candidates with attendance below 60 per cent in class 10 and 12 will be considered for condonation of shortage of attendance by the Chairman only in exceptional circumstances created on medical grounds, such as candidate suffering from serious diseases such as cancer, AIDS, TB or similar serious diseases requiring long period of hospitalisation.
The following may be considered valid reasons for recommending the cases of the candidates with attendance less than the prescribed percentage: prolonged illness; loss of father/ mother or some other such incident leading to student’s absence from the school and meriting special consideration; and any other reason of similar serious nature. Authorised participation in sponsored tournaments and sports meets of not less than inter-school level and at NCC/NSS camps including the days of journeys for such participation will also be counted as full attendance.