The CBSE Class 10 exam results were announced late evening on Saturday. Students and their parents said the long wait for the results, which took two months to be released, has caused them mental agony. The exam was held from May 15 to May 21.Nationally, a total of 6,63,777 candidates appeared for the exam. Of the 5,13,955 students who appeared for improvement, 59.95% of candidates improved their scores. 1,49,822 students appeared for the compartment exam, and 52.40% of them passed the exam.Lingeshwaran, now a Class 11 student didn’t go to school for over a month with the hope that his new scores would get him the preferred stream, science with math. “He was denied a seat in his preferred stream as his scores didn’t make the cut off. He is interested in medicine but the other stream would have opened more options to him for higher education. So we waited for the new scores and didn’t go to school,” said his mother Sumathi.Like Lingeswaran, many students across the State did not go to school as the second exam offered the opportunity to improve their scores and get a seat in their preferred stream. But the delay in announcement cost them two months of education. Schools in Tamil Nadu reopened in early June with most students already assigned their streams before the initial board exams.Lingeswaran finally settled for the stream offered by the school and began going to school last week.“This has been the trend in many schools. Most students waited for the results in hopes of good scores the second time round only to miss out on education. There is no guarantee that the school would have saved them a seat if their scores did improve. This entire exercise by the CBSE has only been a waste of time and resources as teachers were taken away from schools for evaluation,” said a principal of a private school in Chennai.In accordance with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, CBSE has introduced two Board Examinations for Class X from 2026. The second board exams were conducted to provide eligible students of the Main Board exam an opportunity to improve their scores. The best scores from the two exams would be considered for the preparation of the final results.Given the tough mathematics question paper in the first exam, many students chose to write the second board exam but didn’t anticipate the delay in results. “There was no information from CBSE about the release of the results or from the schools. I would check the website every morning and evening hoping for an announcement or an update. The anticipation has left a deep psychological impact,’ said R. Gururajan, parent of a Class 11 boy. Published - July 19, 2026 12:14 am IST