CBSE concessions for learning disabilities and autism: CWSN portal, dates and documents

CBSE's circular on the List of Candidates for 2026-27 (CBSE/LOC/X-XII/2026-2027, signed on 17 September 2026) sets the timetable for everyone sitting the class 10 and class 12 boards in 2027. The LOC is the school's official list of candidates and subjects. For a child who needs concessions it is also the deadline, because the CWSN (children with special needs) claim is made with it.

• 24 September 2026: the LOC opens, and the circular says the CWSN portal 'will be made available along with the LOC'.
• 21 October 2026: the LOC's last date without a late fee. CWSN data is due 'prior to' the last date for the LOC.
• 30 October 2026: the late-fee deadline for the LOC. Do not count on it for the CWSN claim.
• After the LOC is submitted, concessions for CWSN will not be considered.
• The second class 10 exam, in May: in 2026 only students registered as CWSN for the first exam kept their facilities, and no new registrations were accepted (circulars of 17 March and 15 April 2026). Plan on the same for 2027.

At the time of writing, CBSE had not published separate portal dates for 2027, and past windows have moved: late December for the 2023 and 2025 exams, January for 2024, and 9 to 22 September 2025 for the 2026 exams. Ask the school this week for its own internal date for CWSN papers.

The rules come from Circular No. CBSE/COORD/112233/2019 of 12 April 2019, which replaced all earlier CBSE circulars on the subject and is still on the CBSE website as 'PWD Candidates'. It covers candidates with disabilities 'as defined in The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016'. Its title mentions benchmark disabilities, but its text states no minimum percentage.

Its categories include specific learning disabilities (dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia and developmental aphasia), autism spectrum disorder, speech and language disability and mental illness. In 2025, 9,248 candidates with special needs sat the class 10 exam, according to CBSE's circular Acad-57/2025 of 18 August 2025.

ADHD is not a listed category, and we could find no CBSE document that names it; if your child has ADHD, ask the school what it can enter. The 2019 list has no separate row for intellectual disability either, so ask how the portal treats it. If anyone says a 40% certificate is required, ask which document says so. Learning disability and board exam accommodations covers other boards.

The 2019 circular's Annexure-C marks which board exam concessions apply to each category. For specific learning disabilities it marks the following. Autism gets the same set, with the adult prompter marked specifically.

• Flexibility in choosing subjects, including skill-based subjects.
• Exemption from studying the second language.
• A reader, an adult prompter or a scribe, with compensatory time.
• An exam room on the ground floor.
• Attendance relaxation up to 50%, on request, recommended by the principal and backed by a certificate.
• A basic calculator: CBSE's portal manuals of 2022, 2024 and 3 September 2025 say it has 'also allowed use of basic calculators for candidates registered under CWSN category'.

A computer is the open question. The 2019 table does not mark computers for specific learning disabilities or autism, while the current portal manuals list a computer or laptop without internet and say the portal shows what is 'permissible to each category'. Ask the school to check what it now shows for your child's category before planning on typing. The exemption from the exam fee applies only to visually impaired candidates.

A candidate may have a scribe, compensatory time, or both. The allowance in the 2019 circular works out to 20 minutes for every hour of the paper.

An extra hour on a three-hour paper helps a child who has practised with it and has a plan for the last hour; met for the first time in the exam hall, it is often wasted. Preparing a child to use a scribe, reader or extra time sets out a practice plan from class 9.

A scribe writes the answers the candidate dictates. The 2019 circular sets these rules.

• The candidate may bring their own scribe or reader, or ask the exam centre for one.
• A candidate's own scribe must be 'one step below the qualification of the candidate', with an undertaking on the circular's Annexure-B.
• A scribe provided by the centre should not hold more than the exam's minimum qualification, but should always be matriculate or above.
• The candidate may meet the scribe two days before the exam.
• One scribe per subject; different papers, especially languages, may have different scribes, and a scribe may be changed in an emergency.
• A candidate with a scribe sits in a separate room with a separate Assistant Superintendent.
• The scribe is free to the candidate; the centre pays them.

A candidate who opts for a reader only cannot also have a scribe, so choose with the child's teacher. A child who reads slowly but writes well may need a reader and extra time; a child who cannot get answers onto paper needs a scribe.

The adult prompter is there to help a candidate stay with the paper. The CBSE documents we reviewed do not say what a prompter may say or do, so ask the school, and ask how it reads 'one step below' for your child.

For the 2027 exams, the LOC circular gives CWSN candidates one compulsory language instead of two or three, at most two skill subjects, and exemption from the third language. Subject 1 is Hindi A or B, English Language and Literature, or English Communicative. Subjects 2 to 5 may be another language or any subject from Group A1 (Mathematics, Science, Social Science), Group A2 (such as Music, Painting and Home Science) or the skill subjects. So Mathematics and Science are optional under the CWSN scheme for 2027.

A child in class 9 now will sit class 10 in 2028, and that is less settled. CBSE's Secondary Curriculum for 2026-27 makes a third language (R3) compulsory from class 9, assessed in school but needed for the pass certificate, and says 'CwSN with certified Specific Learning Disabilities or other specified conditions may be exempted from the study of R2 and R3, as per the norms specified in the Examination Bye Laws.' It also calls Mathematics and Science compulsory for all students, and we could not confirm how the CWSN scheme will apply. Ask the school in writing.

Mathematics Standard and Basic apply to all students, and Basic is still a mathematics exam, not a disability exemption. It is being discontinued: class 10 in 2026-27 is the last batch who may take it. After that, everyone takes one common paper (80 marks, 3 hours), with an optional Advanced paper (25 marks, 1 hour) not added to the total. A circular of 27 May 2025 lets Basic students take Mathematics in class 11 if the head of school is satisfied of their aptitude, until the new scheme is in place; ask whether that will still apply.

The 2019 circular accepts a certificate from any of three sources, and says 'the disability certificate issued by the competent authority at any place shall be accepted'.

• A government hospital: the Chief Medical Officer, Civil Surgeon or Medical Superintendent.
• A recognised national-level institute.
• An NGO or practitioner registered with the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) or with the Central or State Government.

That is broader than the common belief that only a government hospital will do. For a scribe, the circular also suggests a format, Annexure-A, for a certificate of 'physical limitation' to write from a government health institution; ask whether the school wants it too. The school uploads the document to the portal as a PDF of up to 2 MB.

The circular states no minimum percentage, no rule on how recent the certificate must be, and no UDID requirement; ask the school rather than assume. An assessment and a disability certificate are different documents, as the guide to UDID cards and disability certificates explains.

The family does not apply to CBSE. The school does, and the steps start in class 9.

1. At class 9 registration, and again in class 11, the school enters the disability category. The 2019 circular considers only students 'in whose respect relevant category has been entered during registration in Class IX and/or XI'.
2. You give the school the certificate and a written list of the facilities you want. The 2019 circular set 7 July for parents' requests; ask for the school's current date.
3. The school marks your child as CWSN in the LOC.
4. On the CWSN portal in Pariksha Sangam, it selects the facilities and uploads the certificate, a 'one time option' that cannot be corrected later.
5. CBSE's Regional Office approves or rejects the request.
6. The approved category and facilities are printed on the admit card.

Ask to see the selections before the school submits, and check the admit card the day it arrives. CBSE's circular Acad-57/2025 asks schools for accurate data on children with special needs, so a careful school will welcome the check.

Most problems with CBSE concessions are problems of timing: a category not entered in class 9, a certificate that arrives after the LOC, a facility first tried in the board exam. The checklist puts each step in its year.

Ask, too, whether unit tests and pre-boards will use the same facilities. We could not find a CBSE rule that requires it, and a child who first meets a scribe in the board exam has had no practice.

Special Minds does not assess children or arrange certificates. It introduces remedial teachers and special educators who help a child practise with the facilities from class 9, through board exam support for learning disabilities.