3-day extension to submit CBSE Class 12 marks

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Wednesday announced that it has extended till Sunday (July 25) the deadline for schools to submit the compiled marks of Class 12 students, from July 22. The board also said that it will conduct in-person Class 12 exams for private candidates between August and September

Officials said extending the deadline is unlikely to have any impact on the Class 12 results, which the board is planning to declare by July 31.

Controller of examinations Sanyam Bhardwaj wrote to heads of CBSE-affiliated schools on Wednesday. “As the last date, July 22, is approaching and teachers involved are under stress, getting panicky and committing mistakes and sending requests to CBSE to rectify these (in the finalised data)… CBSE is aware of the time constraints and problems faced by the schools and teachers. Accordingly, CBSE has decided to extend the last date from July 22 to July 25, 5pm,” wrote Bhardwaj.

The extension granted on Wednesday raised questions about whether CBSE will be able to declare the Class 12 results by July 31. Reacting to concerns, Bhardwaj told HT, “Generally, we take around 10-15 days to finalise the work [after marks have been submitted]. But since schools are facing issues in compiling results, we had to extend the deadline for submission of marks. We may have to work round-the-clock but will declare results by July 31.”

After declaring the results of CBSE’s Class 12 students, the board will conduct in-person exams for private candidates between August 16 and September 15. Private candidates are those who have enrolled in the CBSE’s private or patrachar programme and they will appear for exams along with students scheduled to take their compartment tests for a second time. On June 19, HT reported that CBSE’s alternative assessment plan for Class 12 students may put private candidates at a disadvantage.

“Their results will also be declared in the minimum possible time to avoid any difficulty they may face in securing admissions for higher education,” the board said in its notification on Wednesday, adding that the University Grants Commission (UGC) will be “synchronising admission schedule based on the results of these students as was done in 2020.”

However, the move has not gone down well with rights activists and private candidates. Mumbai-based child rights activist and advocate Anubha Shrivastava Sahai, who has been demanding a separate evaluation method for private candidates, said the decision to conduct in-person exams in August September for only these candidates is discriminatory.

“CBSE’s claim of not having data on private candidates is incorrect. The data submitted by persons enrolling as private candidates can be used. Several state boards, including Tripura, Odisha, and Maharashtra, have come up with similar plans for private or compartment candidates,” she said.