CBSE sets ball rolling with exams schedule
BOARD EXAMS BEGIN ON MAY 4. CLASS 10 EXAMS END ON JUNE 7 AND CLASS 12 EXAMS ON JUNE 11
NEW DELHI: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) announced the schedule for final examinations of classes 10 and 12 on Tuesday, three months before the commencement of theory papers on May 4, taking a step towards normalcy that could leave a key imprint on this year’s academic session in the shadow of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
According to the CBSE date sheet, Class 10 board exams will end on June 7 and Class 12 board exams on June 11. The board said authorities will have to follow guidelines against Covid-19 such as wearing masks, following physical distancing and using sanitisers.
Officials at the Council for the Indian School Certificate (CISC), another national-level board, said they too were working on board exam schedules. While some state boards have already announced the dates, others are in the process of finalising the modalities. The commencement of board exams, especially CBSE — the biggest national board — would have a bearing on college admission dates and, in turn, the entire academic session that was upended by the pandemic last year, experts said.
“The practical priority for schools is to deliver exams. This is the first thing they will try to deliver in order to move towards normalcy. For regular learning, the schools might continue hybrid learning (online and offline) for some more months. It all depends on the Covid-19 positivity rate at that exact time,” educationist Meeta Sengupta said.
The CBSE schedule detailed that while most of the Class 12 exams will be held in the morning shift (10.30am-12.30/ 1.30pm), some of them have been slated for the afternoon shift (2.30pm- 4.30/5.30pm) with an aim to reduce the total exam days in view of the pandemic. To be sure, this does not mean that Class 12 students will have to write two papers a day. The four days (May 6, 15, 21, and 27) when they will write their papers in the afternoon, only Class 10 exams will be held in the morning.
“Class 12 examinations will be conducted in two shifts to reduce the number of days of conducting examinations,” Sanyam Bhardwaj, CBSE controller of examinations, said. Bhardwaj added that exams for subjects not offered by schools abroad will be conducted in the afternoon shift on the four specified days.
Classes 10 and 12 theory examinations (for all streams) will be completed in 39 days, as compared with the 45 days planned in 2020. However, 12 papers of Class 12 were eventually cancelled due to the Covid-19 outbreak.