CBSE to apprise SC over board exams

NEW DELHI : The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is on Tuesday likely to inform the Supreme Court about the challenges it will face due to Covid-19 pandemic if it conducts remaining Class 10 and 12 board exams in July and then act according to its directions, Union Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry officials said.

The officials said they feel the circumstances are not very conducive for conducting the examinations and it was felt that any final decision should be taken following the court’s direction.

“The decision to conduct exams in July was taken with hope that the situation would normalise. However, there are a number of areas, including the national capital, where there are a large number of [Covid-19] cases. CBSE has made elaborate plans to ensure social distancing.

“However, there are challenges given the unpredictable nature of the pandemic. Therefore,

CBSE will apprise the court about the situation and act according to its direction,” said an official,requesting anonymity.

The SC last week asked CBSE to consider scrapping the remaining papers and allotting marks on the basis of internal assessment. It asked CBSE to take instructions and inform the court by Tuesday about it.

Officials said they will have to decide on criteria for allotting the marks if the exams are cancelled, which will also create uncertainty regarding the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) exams which were to follow the CBSE exams scheduled

July 1 to 15.

“There can be criteria on the basis of internal assessment, on the basis of pre-boards or how the student performed in exams which were conducted. It is likely these aspects will also come up,” said the official. “The CBSE had drawn up plans to conduct the exams. However, there were many representations from parents and even some states were not keen. We are sure a direction will emerge from the court ruling which will definitely be looking at the overall picture.”

A second official said a decision on holding NEET and JEE will be taken later.

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