Social Justice in Crisis-Based Innovative Educational Options: A Critical Review of the CBSE 40:60 Special Assessment System of Private Gulf Students (2026)

Hello, how are you all, hope you are well. In today's blog we will know about Social Justice in Crisis-Based Innovative Educational Options: A Critical Review of the CBSE 40:60 Special Assessment System of Private Gulf Students (2026), July 19, 2026

In June 2026, a special assessment scheme of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for private and improvement candidates was announced to meet an extraordinary educational crisis triggered by a global conflict that spread over West Asia.

In an unprecedented development, the board examinations for Class 12 had been cancelled in seven Gulf countries - Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan and Kuwait. While regular school students in those countries were assessed based on the internal data of the schools, the board has put candidates other than regular students in a dilemma, as there exists no institution-level document other than their preboard or the quarterly marks.

The Supreme Court has ruled that special provisions are required on the basis of the internal data of the educational institutions and has directed the CBSE to send a notification setting up an alternative formula. The formula, named the 40:60 alternative evaluation formula, calculates the marks for a cancelled theory paper by giving weightage of 40% to the normalized average of marks in the top three performing subjects, while the remaining 60% depends on the performance in the last attempt at Class 12 board.

The formula is a significant development from the perspective of public policy. While the intention was to fairly protect the data and privacy rights of private and improvement students who were caught in cross-border disruption as a result of the war in West Asia, the child-centric formulation also suffers from several challenges.

The use of a student's past performance in Class 10 and Class 12 boards can be too rigid, particularly for a higher education admission process that is based on a selection principle. This article examines challenges and possible safeguards that can be adopted from the perspectives of commercial policy and data privacy. In the present context, a candidate who wants to reject the evaluation can avail the option of sitting for the next regular physical examination conducted by the board.