Monday 18 / May / 2026
The number of students who did not pass the CBSE Class 12 examinations in Oman reportedly increased sharply by 212 percent in 2026.
Now the question arises: who is to blame for this year’s poor results?
The students? The schools? The CBSE board?
Or should the entire issue simply be brushed aside by citing the Iran-US conflict and the disruption it caused?
The CBSE Class 12 results have come as a major shock for students, parents, schools and the wider Indian community in Oman, with over 130 students reportedly failing to clear the examinations this year.
Out of around 2,200 students who appeared for the exams from Oman, only a little over 2,060 managed to pass, triggering widespread concern among families and educators.
While a large number of failures in Oman has been reported in the Science and Commerce streams, even Humanities students have not been spared this year.
In some cases, students reportedly failed despite not appearing for certain board examination papers because of the ongoing conflict, as schools forwarded internal assessment marks in which they had not performed well, ultimately affecting their final results.
What has made the situation even more alarming is that some students who successfully cleared the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main failed to secure the mandatory 75 percent aggregate in their Class 12 board examinations. As a result, they are no longer eligible for admission to premier Indian institutes such as the IITs, NITs and IIITs.
According to the official JEE Advanced 2026 eligibility criteria, candidates seeking admission to IITs must secure at least 75 percent marks in their Class 12 board examinations, while SC/ST candidates require a minimum of 65 percent.
Some students who had received conditional offer letters from universities abroad have also reportedly found those offers no longer valid.
The big question remains: what went wrong for Indian students in Oman this year?
Many students allegedly did not take school examinations seriously, believing that the final board exams would ultimately determine their future. However, due to extraordinary circumstances and the disruption of examinations, schools reportedly forwarded marks from internal assessments, first-term examinations and pre-board exams.
Ironically, many schools are known for setting tougher question papers and stricter evaluation standards during pre-board examinations to better prepare students for the final boards. This strategy, usually intended to improve performance, appears to have backfired badly this year.
Another major concern raised by students and parents is the CBSE’s On-Screen Marking System (OMS). Several students claim they received marks significantly lower than expected — not by a margin of two or three marks, but in some cases by as much as 10 to 20 marks.
For instance, one student who scored 63 in Mathematics during school examinations reportedly received only 33 in the board results. Another student claimed to have expected around 51 marks but ended up with just 23.
CBSE itself admitted that it had to rescan 68,000 papers and manually check more than 13,000 mark sheets due to ink-related issues.
Parents have also alleged that schools did not adequately prepare students for board examinations under the new OMS-based evaluation system.
Such wide variations have raised serious doubts among students and parents over the evaluation process. Many say the unexpectedly low scores are not isolated incidents, but part of a broader pattern being witnessed across schools in Oman.
In what appears to be a damage-control exercise, the CBSE has announced that students dissatisfied with their marks can apply for verification, obtain photocopies of evaluated answer sheets and seek re-evaluation.
However, these processes come at an additional financial cost and consume valuable time for students already under immense pressure regarding admissions and career plans. Improvement examinations are also an option, but students are allowed to appear for only one subject.
The larger question, however, remains: why should students suffer if there were lapses either on the part of schools or the board?
While the geopolitical situation and disruptions caused by the Iran-US conflict may have been beyond everyone’s control, students and parents argue that accountability in academic evaluation cannot simply be overlooked.
The writer is the Managing Editor of the Times of Oman
