CBSE withholds Class X results of 38 Kasaragod students over subject code mix-up despite correction, court order

Kasaragod: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has withheld the Class X results of 38 students of Chinmaya Vidyalaya in Kasaragod, despite the school paying a penalty of ₹1.33 lakh for a subject code mix-up and a Kerala High Court order safeguarding the students’ academic future.

Parents said they were in for a shock when the results were withheld, as they had been “kept in the dark” by the school about the issue.

The 38 students, all from Class X C, had opted for ‘communicative Sanskrit’ as their second language. However, while registering them, the school entered subject code 122 (Sanskrit) instead of 119 (communicative Sanskrit). When CBSE refused to correct the mistake, the school took the board to the high court, and on the court's direction, the students were allowed to write the exam. Yet, the CBSE withheld their results on Wednesday, April 15.

“When my son’s results did not show up, I thought it was because too many people were accessing the portal at the same time. I was not too worried because he is a good student,” said Smitha Udayan, a parent. She said she learnt of the issue only at 11 am on Thursday, when the school posted a message in the WhatsApp group taking “complete responsibility” for the delay. “Then, when we searched about the issue, we came across the court order from early March. That’s when my husband and I became tense,” she said.

Principal Sukumaran said the CBSE had kept the school in the dark about its decision to withhold the results. “We thought the issue was resolved because the board issued hall tickets and conducted the exams. We also paid a fine of ₹3,500 for each of the 38 students. So we don’t really know the reason for CBSE’s action,” he said.

The school detected the wrong subject code only on January 12, 2026, weeks before the board exam. The same day, it wrote to the CBSE seeking correction, followed by reminders on January 14, 23, 27 and 29. On January 23, the CBSE replied that its correction window had closed on October 27, 2025, and said the students could appear for ‘Sanskrit’ under code 122, which was “similar and comparable” to communicative Sanskrit.

The school then moved the High Court. Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas ruled that students cannot be penalised for the school’s mistake and directed the CBSE to correct the subject code and allow them to appear for the ‘communicative Sanskrit’ exam.

The court observed that the students had been preparing specifically for 'communicative Sanskrit' throughout the year, and forcing them to write the standard 'Sanskrit' paper would place them at a serious disadvantage. As part of the correction process, the CBSE initially demanded ₹1,000 per student, followed by ₹2,500 per student, and later a lump sum of ₹5 lakh. “We challenged the ₹5 lakh demand in the High Court, and there is a stay on it. But now it appears the CBSE is bargaining with the students’ results,” Sukumaran said.

He added that the board neither informed the school of its decision to withhold the results nor sought any corrective steps. “The CBSE’s action amounts to contempt of court,” he said. Sukumaran also pointed out that students of a school in Chennai were not even allowed to write the exam due to a similar subject code error. “Our students could write only because we approached the court,” he said.

After the results were withheld, the school wrote to the CBSE chairman and the regional officer in Thiruvananthapuram, seeking immediate release of the results. Students fear that any further delay could cost them the chance to appear for improvement exams.