JKBOSE Class 10 exams begin: 97,000 students at 1,003 centres

The Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (JKBOSE) began its Class 10 annual regular examinations for the winter zone on Monday, October 19, 2026, with mathematics as the first paper. More than 97,000 students sat the paper at 1,003 centres spread across the Kashmir Valley and the winter-zone areas of the Jammu division, and reports from the Valley said the day passed without any incident at the centres.

Jammu and Kashmir runs two school calendars. Schools in the Kashmir Valley and in the colder, higher areas of the Jammu division follow a "winter zone" session, because these areas close for a long winter break from December. Their board exams are therefore held in October and November, before the cold sets in, while the plains of Jammu follow a "summer zone" calendar with exams in February and March, closer to the rest of India. The exams that began on Monday are the largest single test of the winter-zone school year.

The Class 10 result decides which stream a student can choose in Class 11, so this exam shapes the next two years of schooling for nearly one lakh teenagers. The share of candidates from the Kashmir division, roughly three in every four, shows how much of the board's work in this cycle sits in the Valley. The arrangements reported by the board, from storing papers at police stations to sending vigilance teams to centres, are aimed at keeping the process fair across a large and scattered network that includes remote villages.

The concessions for students with disabilities are also worth noting. Extra time, the right to a scribe and a lower pass mark are meant to let these students be judged on what they know rather than on the limits their condition places on writing or reading at speed. Families of eligible students should check with their school that the concession has been recorded for their child before the next paper.

The timing also matters. The schedule is built to finish in November, before the winter break; any disruption in October and November would push the papers, and everything that follows them, into the harshest months of the year.

Short-term: Class 10 candidates now face a month of papers, with social science scheduled for November 4 and computer science closing the schedule on November 18. Class 12 students begin on October 21, so many schools and centres will run exams for two or three classes at the same time over the coming weeks. Families should follow the official date sheet on the board's website rather than copies shared on social media, as one published version gave a different closing date.

Long-term: A smooth exam season keeps the winter-zone calendar on track. Results from this cycle will also give the Union Territory's education department a fresh measure of learning outcomes in the Valley and the hill areas of Jammu.

Who is affected: About 97,500 Class 10 students and their families in the Kashmir division and the winter-zone areas of Jammu; Class 11 and Class 12 candidates sitting in parallel; teachers deployed as invigilators and evaluators; and district administrations responsible for security and transport around centres.

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