So far a parliamentary panel has voiced concern about students in Classes 9-12 and their high academic stress in the lead up to the Board exams of Class 10 and Class 12. The Committee on Estimates has highlighted a gap between the introduction of a new curriculum framework and implementation in schools, with delayed textbook availability and changing examination patterns as major obstacles.
The observations were made in the Tenth Report of the Eighteenth Lok Sabha Committee on Estimates for 2026-27, entitled “Budget and Policy Aspects for Providing Affordable and Quality Education in the Country including Review of CBSE”. The report was presented in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. The committee looked at curriculum implementation, teacher training, examination systems, digital infrastructure and government spending on education.
According to the panel, the CBSE has adopted curriculum frameworks for Grades 9 to 12 in line with the objectives of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2023. However, the implementation of the redesigned curriculum has not proceeded at the same pace as its formulation.
A specific issue of concern to the committee is the delay in NCERT textbooks being released for Classes 9 to 12. More and more schools are bringing in updated and higher-order learning concepts to the curriculum, but some students are still learning from older study materials. The mismatch between teachers will make it difficult for them to implement the revised curriculum and students will have to be uncertain about which resources they should use to prepare for it.
The panel also highlighted new Board examination patterns based on applications as another source of pressure. A move away from just memory-based questions is meant to encourage conceptual understanding, critical thinking and practical application of knowledge. But, students can experience a lot of confusion and stress when examination expectations are changed before adequate learning resources and classroom preparation are available, the committee said.
The problem is especially acute for Class 10 and Class 12 students, for whom Board examinations are the key academic milestones. It therefore urged the Education Ministry to take immediate action to speed up the development, printing and distribution of the remainder of the new textbooks. NCERT and CBSE were also recommended to work closer together to make sure that curriculum changes, textbooks, classroom teaching and exam patterns are being carried forward.
Teacher preparedness was another major issue raised in the report. The panel recommended a nationwide teacher-capacity-building programme that focused on application-based teaching. Teachers need training to help them move from rote learning to analysis, reasoning and real-world application of concepts.
The committee also commended CBSE in its teacher development programme, as more than 11 million people have been trained in online and offline capacity-building training in the past five years. But it was also concerned about the decline in online teacher training participation from more than 5.3 million teachers in 2022 to roughly 1.63 lakh in 2025.
The panel also highlighted financial barriers faced by teachers teaching at private schools, particularly in rural and semi-urban environments. While the training of government school teachers is free, teachers at private affiliated schools should be charged training fees and a further Rs 700 per teacher for some sessions on a one-day workshop. The committee said schools with low financial resources may find it difficult to pay for these costs.
It recommended that the Education Ministry establish year-wise targets for teacher training and sustain continuity in capacity-building programmes. It also called for a review of training fees so that teachers in financially constrained schools could use them more effectively, for instance by using online training programmes.
The report also raised questions of students’ enrolment and Board examinations accessibility. 22,51,812 students registered for the Class 10 exam in 2024 and 16,33,730 for Class 12 in 2024, according to the committee. In 2025, Class 10 registrations increased to 23,85,079, and Class 12 to 17,04,367.
In addition, financial accessibility was another aspect that was examined by the committee. While visually impaired students are exempt from the fee charged by the CBSE exam and all other students are charged for their examination, the panel found that there is a uniform fee structure for other students, and candidates in India pay Rs 1,600 for five subjects. It recommended fee waivers and exemptions for economically weaker and socially disadvantaged students with lower income to remove the cost of continuing education from them.
The committee also recommended more transparency in the evaluation of the CBSE answer sheets. It also stressed the need for standardised and objective evaluation strategies and recommended better digital infrastructure improvement for the digital infrastructure as per Pariksha Sangam. Strong digital systems are needed not only for Board exams, but also for the state-level tests of CTET and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Selection Test as well, the panel said.
The larger issue of education financing also figured prominently in the report. In addition, it was noted by the panel that NEP 2020 aims to raise public spending on education to 6 per cent of GDP. However, current spending by the Centre and states is about 4.1 per cent of GDP as well, so these numbers are quite a bit lower than the stated goal and expenditure of the government.
The Union Budget 2026-27 allocated Rs 1,39,286 crore to the Ministry of Education, which is an 8.27 per cent increase over the previous year. However, the committee recommended a more structured and sustained approach to education financing, saying that incremental increases might not be enough to address infrastructure, digital education, teacher training and learning-quality problems.
To cover the gap with the 6 per cent GDP target, the panel recommended a mandatory annual baseline increase of 10 per cent in the education budget. It also recommended the establishment of a specialised, non-lapsable education fund to support long-term infrastructure development, digital expansion and inclusive education across multiple financial years.
The parliamentary panel’s observations also underline the importance of making education reforms a whole process and not a one-time event. Introducing application-based examinations without the right textbooks, teacher training and support in the classroom are also an additional burden for students. The committee should therefore have a view towards harmonizing curriculum reform, teaching practices, examination systems and funding so that the transition from NEP 2020 in terms of students and schools is more predictable and manageable.
