The rule as the board states it
The CBSE examination bye-laws require a candidate to have at least 75% attendance in the academic session to be eligible for the board examination in Class 10 and Class 12. The board issues reminders to schools each year, and the wording that matters is the current bye-laws and the year's circular: they are the authority, and this guide describes the rule as the board has applied it in recent sessions rather than a fixed statute.
The percentage is calculated on the days the school was open for instruction up to the cut-off the board sets, which has been 1 January of the examination year. Days before a student was admitted are not counted against them, and days the school was closed are not counted at all. A school that cannot show the denominator, the number of working days, cannot defend the numerator.
What a shortage can be condoned for
The board allows a shortage of attendance to be condoned, up to a limit that has been 25% of the requirement, only for specific reasons and only with documents. The categories the board has recognised in recent years are narrow and worth knowing before a family asks.
- Prolonged illness, with medical certificates from a recognised practitioner and the school's own record of the absence.
- The death of a parent or another serious family circumstance, with supporting documents.
- Participation in national or international sporting events, or other recognised competitions, with the organising body's certificate.
- Other circumstances the board's regional office accepts on a case-by-case basis, which is not a route to plan on.
How condonation actually happens
The school, not the family, applies. The head sends the case with the documents to the board's regional office by the date in the year's circular, and the decision rests with the regional office. A school that discovers in January that a student is short, gathers certificates in a hurry and applies late has put the student's examination at the mercy of a queue.
The practical consequence is that a school needs to know by October which students are trending towards a shortage, and needs the reasons and the documents in the file as the absences happen rather than reconstructed at the end. A medical certificate obtained six months after the illness is the kind of document a regional office looks at twice.
Records a school must be able to produce
When the board or a regional office asks, the school should be able to show the following for any candidate without assembling it on the day.
- A dated attendance register per class, with the school's working days clearly distinguished from holidays and closures.
- The date of admission for any student who joined during the session.
- Each absence with its reason where a reason was given, and the document attached where one exists.
- The running percentage for each candidate against the cut-off date, so a trend is visible in October, not in January.
- Communication with families about attendance shortfalls, dated, so the school can show it warned in time.
- The condonation applications sent and the regional office's decisions.
What to tell families, and when
Most disputes come from families who did not know the rule applied to their child until it was too late. A sentence in the admission letter, a line in the Class 9 and Class 11 orientation, and a written warning when a student drops below a threshold the school sets, say 80%, prevent nearly all of them. The warning should say the current percentage, the requirement, the cut-off date and what documents would be needed if the absences have a condonable reason.
Say plainly that the school cannot condone anything itself. It can only apply, with documents, for the reasons the board recognises. Families who are told this in September make different decisions from families told in January.
Common misreadings
A few misunderstandings recur every year, usually in the last week before the cut-off.
- Counting from the first day of the session for a student admitted in August. The denominator starts at admission.
- Assuming the school can waive the rule for a good student. It cannot; only the regional office can condone.
- Treating tuition or coaching classes as attendance. Only the school's working days count.
- Believing the 25% condonation is available for any reason. It is available for listed reasons, with documents.
- Leaving the check until the list of candidates is prepared. By then the cut-off has passed.
