Taking the blues out of the Boards

In the backdrop of a most unexpected year, that witnessed students being confined to their homes, and being schooled through e-learning, the CBSE on Tuesday, released the time-table of Class 10 and 12 Board examinations. As per the datasheet, the exams will commence on May 4 and end on June 7 for students of Class 10, and June 11 for Class 12 students, who will appear for the exams in two shifts. The exam schedule this year is 39 days long, compared to 2020, in which it was 45 days long. Both parents and students consider the threemonth gap between announcement and exams, a span convenient enough to devise a study routine. Last year’s announcement came just two months before the exams. As many as 34 lakh students have registered for the Board exams this year, which in any given year is anxiety-inducing, with parents burning the midnight oil alongside the candidates. This year, that anxiety has been compounded by the fact the classroom sessions were conducted in the living rooms of students. In December last year, students and parents had requested the Education Ministry to postpone the exams, usually held in February and concluding in March. They argued that virtual classrooms cannot compensate for the absence of real-world learning, and additional time was necessary for preparations. Financial constraints also deprived many students of the privileges of e-learning. While the Ministry heeded their demands, students have got a respite considering the syllabus was truncated by as much as 30 per cent. Also, the inclusion of 33 per cent internal choice questions in the question papers can help students attempt problems that might be known better to them. As an added safety net for Class 10 students, CBSE said that any candidate failing in one of the elective subjects like Science, Social Science or Mathematics will be evaluated on basis of a Skill Subject offered as a sixth additional subject. Introduced as part of the Centre’s Skill India initiative, the subjects found increasing takers as the percentage of students who opted for them in 2021 has gone up to 30 per cent compared to 20 per cent in 2020. Stakeholders in the education space say it might almost seem impossible for any student to fail in the Class 10 examinations. Such variables that could tip the scales in the students’ favour might be encouraging. But it must be viewed through the prism of the long-term sustainability of a student’s educational life. The notion of reducing a third of the syllabus for the exams implies these topics must be reintroduced to students in the subsequent year. It remains to be seen how schools and colleges will factor in these phantom lessons when the new academic sessions begin. For students, the upcoming academic year might be more daunting considering there’s a 30 pc backlog to be cleared from the last year. That’s just one aspect of examinations in the post-pandemic era. What will also be called into question is the notion of competitive exams, and students who appear for it in the next academic year. India’s education system is already riddled with the burden of numerous reservation and management quotas that have often been called out for diluting the quality of students passing out from reputed institutions. With or without the benefit of lenient invigilation, the incentive of a higher rank prompts exceptional students to strive harder. Considering the relaxations extended by CBSE in conducting the exams, the existing pool of aspirants for any given college is only set to widen. But it begs the question, why would anyone work harder if normalisation is the order of the day? School boards in India have a tall order ahead. The learning from the pandemic year should go on to inform the hybrid pedagogy of the future, inclusively and flexibly.