Fact-check: CBSE hasn't reduced syllabus by 15%, internal assessments will not be 40% of score in 2025

NEW DELHI: Numerous media reports are claiming that the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has reduced the Class 10 and Class 12 syllabus by 15% for the board exams 2025 and allocated 40% weightage for internal assessment.

However, principals of multiple CBSE schools as well as officials from the CBSE headquarters in Delhi have told Careers360 that the CBSE Class 10, 12 syllabus has not been reduced for the February 2025 exams and schools have received no intimation on it.

Recently, the CBSE Board notified the mark distribution for Classes 10 and 12 board exam 2025 scheduled to begin on February 15. The CBSE Class 10, 12 practical exams 2025 will commence on January 1. A senior official confirmed to Careers360 that the notification on marks distribution – across theory, practicals, projects and internal assessment components – will hold for the 2025 exams. As that notification shows, the exam-to-internal assessment or practical ratio varies from subject to subject. For vocational subjects, the IA or practical component is significantly higher. For example, ‘Introduction to Tourism’ in Class 10 has a practical component carrying 50 marks but for ‘Standard Mathematics’, the theory component is still 80% and the IA, 20%.

Sudha Acharya, principal of ITL Public School, Dwarka, said, “The marks distribution for theory and practical has been so for the past few years. There is nothing new in it.” Acharya is also the former chairperson of National Progressive Schools Conference, a consortium of private schools in Delhi.

Also read No changes in exam, IA system: CBSE rebuts claims of syllabus reduction, open book exams in 2025

CBSE Board Exams 2025: The announcements

The reports trace their information back to a speech made by the CBSE regional officer for Bhopal, Vikas Kumar Agrawal, at the ‘Bridging the Gap’ principals' summit held at the Brilliant Convention Centre in Indore. He is reported as announcing the syllabus cut as well as the increased weightage to internal assessment.

Speaking at the event, the publications report, Agrawal said that the board has decided to reduce the syllabus for both the classes to minimise academic stress.

Importantly, the reports – including one on the Times of India’s website – can be easily seen as implying that the policy changes have already been implemented. Agrawal could not be reached at the phone number available on the CBSE website, cbse.gov.in, but officials at the CBSE headquarters in Delhi said that is not the case – syllabus and internal assessment policies applicable to the 2025 exams have already been notified.

Principals of several private schools in Delhi also said they have not received any notification from the board in this regard.

Jyoti Arora, principal of Mount Abu Public School, said, “I also checked with CBSE regarding the changes. If there were any changes with the syllabus to be implemented in 2025 we would have known it much in advance.”

Ever since the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the Covid-19 pandemic, school education has been set for a variety of reforms. Most of the reports seem to cover a mish-mash of these reform discussions, implying they are final and notified.

No syllabus cut for CBSE board exam 2025

Careers360 tried to independently verify the major changes reported by several media houses. However, CBSE school principals said that the board is planning to revamp its exam policy but it will not be implemented for the upcoming CBSE Class 10, 12 board exam 2025.

The CBSE and the centre’s textbook and curriculum design body, the National Council of Educational Research and Training, have altered the syllabus multiple times since the Covid-19 pandemic but there is no docking of the syllabus for the 2025.

Indeed, the entire board exam system is up for reform. The National Council of Education Research and Training's (NCERT) independent exam body, PARAKH, in a report released earlier this year proposed a host of reforms in Class 10 and Class 12 board exams. Similarly, the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE 2023) has also proposed a host of changes to evaluation and assessment.

As Careers360 has previously reported, a host of policy changes – including ones on internal assessment, restructuring of board exams and holding exams twice in a year – are under discussion but none of these has been notified. They will not impact the 2025 exams.

Aligning with the National Education Policy (NEP 2020), the board had in April announced that there will be more competency-based questions in CBSE Class 12 board exams 2025.

Similarly, the CBSE had initially said it would organise open-book exams for Classes 9-12 but later decided to restrict it to only Classes 9 and 11, that too in a small section of schools.