CBSE Direct Admission & Subject Change: Strict Deadline Adherence for 2025-26

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) issued an important online release on September 5, 2025, confirming the deadlines for direct admissions and requests for subject changes in Classes 10 and 12, in an effort to facilitate the efficient coordination of board preparations for upcoming board examinations. Reinforcing the directive, the circular—labeled for urgency and clarity—emphasizes that no exceptions will be tolerated on these deadlines, and affirms the Board’s expectation of complete compliance from every affiliated institution.

To guide schools, the circular clearly lists the deadlines for direct admissions. The final allowable date for schools to allow direct admission has been set at September 9, 2025. Under circumstances where a transfer is due to a central government employee, a rare post-deadline admission is permitted, on the condition that the case is referred to the Regional Office no later than two working days from the admission date. In these situations, institutions must prepare a concise table of admissions compiled in a standard pro forma, and forward the same to the assigned Regional Office through messenger (Harkara) by September 11, 2025. The Regional Office, in turn, will communicate decisions to the institutions on ineligible and eligible admissions, and these advisories must be released no later than September 20, 2025.

Subject Change Requests

The cut-off date for schools submitting subject change requests for candidates in classes 10 and 12, in line with the direct admission process, continues to be August 31, 2025.

Institutions should consolidate the subject change requests and forward them to the appropriate Regional Office via Harkara no later than September 2, 2025. Regional Offices are to process, approve, and notify students of the outcomes by September 15, 2025. The circular cautions that applications for direct admission, as well as for subject change, will not be accepted beyond the primary deadline of August 31, 2025.

Responsibility of School Principals

The circular assigns the absolute responsibility to principals and heads of institutions for ensuring that all admissions and subject adjustments comply with board guidelines and are finalised by the deadline. Issuing authority is Dr. Sanyam Bhardwaj, the Controller of Examinations.

New Regional Offices and Their Jurisdiction

The circular identifies new Regional Offices set up by CBSE, operational from September 1, 2025. All direct admission and subject change requests linked to these new jurisdictions will be processed by the respective parent Regional Offices, as detailed below:

• Lucknow: All cases should be forwarded to the Prayagraj Regional Office.

• Gurugram: Matters referred to the Gurugram office will now be directed to the Panchkula Regional Office for further processing.

• Ranchi: Pending items from the Ranchi location will be routed to the Patna Regional Office.

• Raipur: Docket movement from the Raipur site will henceforth go to the Bhubaneswar Regional Office.

Also, three fresh Sub-Regional Offices located in Agartala, Itanagar, and Gangtok will transfer their filings to the Guwahati Regional Office for the regional consolidation process.