CBSE Class 10, 12 exams could be held same day

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) proposes to hold the finals for classes 10 and 12 on same dates in two shifts, a move that will reduce the examination period and give teachers extra time to check answer-scripts more thoroughly.

The new plan was designed after the board met principals of some of the top schools in New Delhi and its satellite cities.

The CBSE, which has two panels committees to suggest ways to improve the system, will review the suggestions before a final decision is taken. The country’s largest school board that has more than 18,000 institutions affiliated to it holds the two exams usually from March 1, barring exceptions such as this year’s state assembly elections that delayed the test by more than a week.

The exams run close to 45 days because of an array of subjects and separate time-tables for the two classes. The plan to set common dates for both exams, with Class 12 in the morning and Class 10 in the afternoon, is likely to decrease the overall duration of the finals.

At present, exams are not held in the afternoon. The reduced number of exam days will give evaluators — a pool of schoolteachers selected by the CBSE — more time to check the answer-scripts of students before the results are declared in May.

The teachers usually get a small window to check the answers, given the sheer size of the number of examinees.

More than a million students wrote the Class 12 exam this year.

“By conducting Class 12 and 10 exams on the same day we can reduce the examination period and provide more time to the evaluators,” a senior board official said. The CBSE has drawn criticism for its evaluation system as several students complained of variation in marks after asking the board for a relook.