The CBSE has proposed to conduct Class 10 examinations twice a year from 2026 onwards, as per which students can opt to take the exam once or both times and the best scores will be counted. (Express Photo)After allegations that Punjabi was removed from the CBSE’s list of regional language subjects for Class 10 triggered an uproar in the state, prompting politicians cutting across party lines to condemn the move, the board issued a clarification refuting the claims.While the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) attacked the BJP-led central government for the “attack on Punjab, Punjabi and Punjabiyat”, the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) blamed Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for “remaining silent” and “failing to raise voice for Punjab’s rights”.The allegations came after the CBSE issued a draft policy on Tuesday for the proposed Dual Board Exams for Class 10 from the 2025-26 academic session under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.An addendum later issued by the board’s Controller of Examinations Sanyam Bhardwaj read: “This is with regard to the draft policy for the conduct of two Board Examinations of class X released by the CBSE on its website on 25.02.2025. It is clarified that the list of other subjects and languages as offered presently shall continue to be offered for 2025-26 as well.”It added: “Thus, in addition to the languages mentioned under the list of languages in point 8 of the draft policy under the heading “Regional and Foreign Languages Group”, Punjabi (004), Russian (021), Nepali (024), Limboo (025), Lepcha (026), Sindhi (008), Malayalam (012), Odia (013), Assamese (014), Kannada (015), Kokborok (091), Telugu (007), Arabic (016) and Persian (023) shall continue to be offered.”The CBSE has proposed to conduct Class 10 examinations twice a year from 2026 onwards, as per which students can opt to take the exam once or both times and the best scores will be counted. The board said the move is based on the recommendations of NEP 2020 which says students should be given an opportunity to improve their performance in board examinations.Before the board issued the clarification, state education minister and AAP leader Harjot Singh Bains accused the BJP of “deliberately deleting Punjabi language from the exam system.” He said, “We strongly object to CBSE’s new exam pattern scheme, which attempts to erase Punjabi! Punjabi must be designated as the main language in Punjab and further be included as a regional language in CBSE for the rest of the nation, as it is spoken and read across multiple states. Any attack on Punjabi will not be tolerated!”Story continues below this ad“As the education minister of Punjab, I strongly object to this move. It has been proven time and again through several child psychology studies that a child must get his primary education in his/her mother tongue. The mother tongue plays the most crucial role in the overall development of the child…” he said.“Our demand is that Punjabi should be designated as the main language at least in Punjab and for other states where also people speak, read and learn Punjabi in huge numbers, it should continue to be offered as the regional language. CBSE has also undermined the importance of Punjabi by bracketing it with foreign languages. I am writing a letter to the union education minister and will also meet him if required. This injustice with Punjab, Punjabi and Punjabiyat will not be tolerated at all,” Bains added.Former deputy chief minister and senior SAD leader Sukhbir Singh Badal too condemned the alleged move and took to X: “Strongly condemn CBSE’s decision to drop Punjabi from regional languages in the 2025-26 curriculum. Punjabi is our mother tongue, spoken and read across various states and countries worldwide… This attack on our mother tongue will not be tolerated, and Akali Dal will strongly oppose this move.”Badal attacked Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann over the issue and said, “Let me remind you @BhagwantMann, your silence on this blatant attack is being seen as complicity. Take a cue from the Telangana government which has made Telugu mandatory in all schools, including CBSE affiliated ones. When will you stand up for Punjab’s rights, Mr Puppet CM?”Story continues below this adBlaming NEP, former Punjab education minister and senior Congress leader Pargat Singh wrote on X: “This is a major attack on Punjab and our mother tongue. We are against the RSS mentality that aims to weaken the rights of the states and their education systems. Unfortunately.. the @BhagwantMann government remained silent on this issue in the Assembly. It is clear that both BJP and AAP are together attacking Punjab in this manner..”Divya Goyal is a Principal Correspondent with The Indian Express, based in Punjab. Her interest lies in exploring both news and feature stories, with an effort to reflect human interest at the heart of each piece. She writes on gender issues, education, politics, Sikh diaspora, heritage, the Partition among other subjects. She has also extensively covered issues of minority communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan. She also explores the legacy of India's partition and distinct stories from both West and East Punjab. She is a gold medalist from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Delhi, the most revered government institute for media studies in India, from where she pursued English Journalism (Print). Her research work on “Role of micro-blogging platform Twitter in content generation in newspapers” had won accolades at IIMC. She had started her career in print journalism with Hindustan Times before switching to The Indian Express in 2012. Her investigative report in 2019 on gender disparity while treating women drug addicts in Punjab won her the Laadli Media Award for Gender Sensitivity in 2020. She won another Laadli for her ground report on the struggle of two girls who ride a boat to reach their school in the border village of Punjab. ... Read More© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd