CBSE may advance Class 10, 12 board exams to give more time for evaluation

NEW DELHI: Class 10 and 12 board examinations conducted by CBSE may start from mid February rather than March to provide more time for the evaluation of answer scripts, sources said.

According to a senior CBSE official, a committee being set up to suggest systemic changes in the evaluation process followed by CBSE for board exams will explore this aspect.

“At present, the exams start on March 1 and usually go on for a month. This also coincides with the start of summer vacations and hence, a number of teachers go on leave during that time. Due to this, we get ad-hoc and contractual staff for the evaluation that affects quality,” said a source.

There are more than 18,000 schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). Sources further said by advancing the exams to February 15, the board will be able to get quality faculty to be part of evaluation to make the system better.

Officials said the move will not cause inconvenience to the students as most of them take preparatory leave from January. On Monday, CBSE clarified that it received requests for verification of marks from only 2.47 percent of the students amid allegations of “faulty evaluation process” adopted for Class 12 exams.

The board said despite best efforts made by teachers, “there may be possibility of human error in transferring marks to the title page of the answer scripts, summation of marks and manually posting marks in the computer system”.

“We want to make the system more robust and foolproof and having quality evaluators will help immensely. The committee has also been asked to suggest technological changes that are required,” said a senior official.

Nearly 11 lakh candidates — 6,38,865 boys and 4,60,026 girls — registered for the CBSE Class 12 exam this year against 10.67 lakh last year, registering an increase of 2.82%.

The number of centres and schools registered for the Class 12 exam were 3,502 and 10,678 respectively.