The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declared the class 12 result 2026 on Wednesday afternoon.
This year, 17,80,365 students registered for the CBSE Class 12 examinations, out of which 17,68,968 appeared and 15,07,109 students passed. The overall pass percentage stood at 85.2%, down by 3.19 percentage points from last year’s 88.39%.
Girls outperformed boys by 6.73 percentage points. Trivandrum recorded the highest pass percentage at 95.62%, while Prayagraj recorded the lowest at 72.43%.
Among children with special needs (CWSN) candidates, the pass percentage is 90.16%.
Why the pass percentage declined this year
Explaining the possible reasons behind the decline, Dr Jyoti Arora, principal of Mount Abu Public School, said, “A slight decline in CBSE Class 12 results may be attributed to a combination of factors rather than any single reason.”
She added that it could be due to “stricter and more competency-based evaluation practices” as well as a “greater focus on conceptual understanding under NEP 2020.” She also noted that concerns linking the digital evaluation of answer sheets, commonly referred to as On-Screen Marking (OSM), may be overstated.
“It may not be appropriate to link it only with OSM checking. It would be premature to attribute the trend solely to OSM checking or evaluation methodology. The pattern indicates a gradual shift from rote learning to application-based assessment,” Arora said.
{{/usCountry}}“It may not be appropriate to link it only with OSM checking. It would be premature to attribute the trend solely to OSM checking or evaluation methodology. The pattern indicates a gradual shift from rote learning to application-based assessment,” Arora said.
{{/usCountry}}Praneet Mungali, Trustee at the Sanskriti Group of Schools, said, “The OSM adoption has introduced more rigour in the process of evaluation. This has reduced human error and is probably the reason for the change in the pass ratio.”
“To come up with a definitive conclusion, we would need to study the trend for at least the next few years and compare them with the average pass ratios for a few years before the introduction of OSM. This will allow us to make a firm conclusion about the real pattern. It is important to highlight at this juncture that the OSM introduction is the right way forward,” he added.
Where to check 2026 class 12th results
Students who appeared for the board examinations can access their marks through official platforms, including results.cbse.nic.in, cbse.gov.in, cbseresults.nic.in, digilocker.gov.in, and results.gov.in.
Results are also available on the UMANG mobile app and through SMS services.