SCHOOLS GEAR UP AS CBSE DECLARES IN-PERSON EXAMS

NEW DELHI: A day after the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) announced that the first of a two-part system of board examinations this year will be held in-person, schools across the national capital said they have started gearing up for the new mode of examination scheduled to start next month. There are over 2,100 CBSE-affiliated schools in Delhi.

The CBSE on Thursday said the full schedule of the Term 1 exams, to be held in November and December, will be announced on October 18.

The 90-minute Term 1 examination will have objective type questions while Term 2 examinations, scheduled to take place in March-April, may have subjective or objective type questions, but that and the schedule will depend on the pandemic situation at that time.

In order to simplify the schedule, the CBSE has split the Term 1 exam subjects into minor and major subjects, with those classified as minor (mostly electives), being held first. There are nine major subjects for Class 10, and 19 for Class 12. These include core subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, English, and economics, among others.

Talking about the revised process, Awadhesh Kumar Jha, head of Sarvodaya Co-ed Vidyalaya in Rohini Sector 8, said, “Getting photocopies of encrypted question papers will be a challenge as our school doesn’t have a fast photocopier machine and these have to be copied within a stipulated time frame... It will be easier if the board arranged the necessary number of question papers and distributed them through zonal centres,” he said.

Principal Sukhbir Singh Yadav, president of government principals’ association, said the earlier method of collecting question papers from designated points or banks will be easier.

“Since this is the first time that board exams are being held in November, it will be a challenge to maintain continuity of classes for junior students, while conducting board exams,” he said.

Private schools, however, said managing an increased number of students will be a challenge if classes for junior students are also restarted before the boards. Malini Narayanan, chairperson of the National Progressive Schools Conference, which has 122 Delhi schools as members, said, “If schools reopen for classes from nursery to 8, we will feel the strain...and we would need extra help at that point.”