The news on March 1, 2026, will have an effect on testing facilities in Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE. There are a lot of Indians who dwell in each of these places. People are more apprehensive about safety now that missile exchanges between Iran and Israel are happening more often. This indicates that difficulties in the Middle East affect schools all across the world. Indian students studying overseas are having trouble with their schedules, and this delay is a sad reminder that wars can get in the way of their school and employment ambitions.
The CBSE put postponed the tests because things were getting worse between Iran and Israel.
The conflict between Iran and Israel is getting worse, as recent incidents have led planes to be delayed and travel warnings to be issued across the Gulf. Iranian rockets hit sites in Israel in late February 2026. In response, Israel targeted areas in Syria and Lebanon that it felt Iranian proxies were using. These things make people more afraid of a greater battle in the region. Because of this, CBSE decided to call off the tests that were supposed to happen in March 2026.
In their formal statement, CBSE officials talked about “unforeseen security challenges” and said that the safety of students was their top priority in the middle of all the political unrest. The board has changed the due dates for the papers that were affected to April 15 to May 5, 2026. This gives kids more time to study, but it also cuts their school year short. This impacts over 1,800 candidates, most of whom go to Indian schools in Dubai, Doha, and Riyadh, which is where a lot of Indian nationals go to school.
Geopolitical problems, like the war between Iran and Israel, have impacted expats in the past. The same Houthi attacks in the Red Sea in 2024 caused problems for shipping and air transport, just like they do now. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs states that there are about 3.5 million Indians living in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. More than 500,000 students in India who are of school age depend on CBSE-affiliated schools to keep up with the country’s school system.
The Problems Indian Students Are Having Abroad: Stuck in the Middle
The delay in the CBSE has made Indian students studying abroad much more apprehensive. Many families moved to the Middle East for work and put their kids in CBSE schools so they could easily go back to India if they needed to. The Iran-Israel battle is getting worse, which could threaten this stability.
Academic Disruptions: Students will have to deal with more uncertainty for a longer time, and this could even modify the deadlines for college applications.Forty percent of CBSE students in the UAE are Indians who are getting ready for hard tests like the JEE and NEET.
Stress is harder when you can’t see your family in India and hear alarms and exercises for war and evacuation. A 2025 research by the Indian Embassy in Dubai found that 65% of expat students said their anxiety levels were higher during regional flare-ups.
Some students are stuck because airlines like Air India and Emirates have canceled flights. Others are dealing with schools closing in Qatar and Oman.
Seventeen-year-old Aarav Sharma from Sharjah, UAE, is a typical case of a student who was affected. “We’ve been studying nonstop, but now that there are blackouts and alerts, it’s impossible to focus,” he said in a forum for the community. Aarav’s family, like many others, wants his Class 12 results to help him get scholarships to Indian engineering institutions.
Experts think this isn’t the first time this has happened. CBSE moved to online tests during the 2020 UAE floods and COVID-19, but the crisis between Iran and Israel necessitates safety measures in person. Dr. Meera Nair, an expert on education policy at Jawaharlal Nehru University, says, “Geopolitical instability in the Middle East directly hits Indian students abroad hardest, as they bridge two worlds—expat life and Indian academic standards.
Experts say the effects will get worse. If things keep getting worse between Iran and Israel, universities in India and other countries may get a lot more applications. The National Testing Agency (NTA), which is in charge of the JEE and NEET tests, has said that it is open to making adjustments. But kids in Saudi Arabia experience a lot more worry since their parents’ jobs aren’t stable and oil prices are always going up and down.
What the government is doing to make things better
The Indian government has acted quickly. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) started Operation Safe Return, which granted families that were ready to move flights back home. CBSE is partnering with Indian embassies to provide virtual counseling and practice tests to help students catch up on what they missed.
On March 2, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued a speech in which they emphasized “student safety first” and set aside ₹50 crore for emergency education aid in the Gulf. Schools in safer regions like Abu Dhabi have switched to hybrid models, which combine online classes with sites where students can obtain help.
But there are still issues. Parents’ groups in Doha want permanent backup plans because they say that temporary delays make people less likely to trust CBSE’s worldwide framework. Dharmendra Pradhan, the Minister of Education, told Parliament that “geopolitical crises will not define our students’ futures.” He claimed he will improve the infrastructure for strong test systems.
International organizations like UNESCO have praised CBSE’s proactive approach, saying it is better than what happened in Ukrainian schools during the Russia-Ukraine war. This makes India a leader in keeping education secure for individuals who live abroad when things are going wrong around the world.
How the economies and futures of Indian families are affected
The war between Iran and Israel has an effect on both family finances and education. A lot of Indian parents in the Gulf who work in blue-collar occupations are losing money since building has stopped and fewer tourists are coming. According to a research by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), 20% of expatriate households will see their revenues drop by 15%. This will make it harder for them to pay for school and coaching.
This means that students have to make hard choices: they can either wait to get into school, switch to International Baccalaureate (IB) boards, or go back to India in the middle of the year. Based on data from the disruptions last year, 12% more Indian students returned back home, which put a lot of stress on public institutions there.
We have hope because of plans that look to the future. BYJU’S and Unacademy have set up free crash courses for CBSE examinations that were pushed back. The courses are all about time zones in the Middle East. WhatsApp groups organized by the community in Kuwait give people tools and help them get stronger.
What We’ve Learned About How Geopolitical Problems Happen
You can discern patterns in things that have already happened. The US-Iran tensions of 2019–20 restricted UAE airspace for a short time, which forced 500 CBSE exams to be pushed back. Omani schools have been on high alert since Yemen’s civil war started in 2015. They have been preparing Indian students ready for hybrid learning.
These cycles show that India’s system for sending students to other nations to study has issues. There are 18 CBSE schools outside of India, therefore expansion should focus on finding out what the hazards are in those places. Other options for backups are to set up satellite exam centers in India or Singapore.
Prof. Rajesh Kumar from IIT Delhi is one of several researchers who believe that AI-driven predictive analytics can help us spot problems before they happen by looking at conflict indicators like missile launch data or rising oil prices.
Because of political concerns that are making it tougher for Indian students to obtain work, the CBSE has put off testing in the Middle East.
