Term 2 CBSE board exams to be held offline from April 26
GHAZIABAD/NOIDA: The Central Board for Secondary Examination’s (CBSE) term 2 board exams for classes 10 and 12 are set to begin from April 26 in the offline mode, officials said Wednesday, adding that they are making preparations in accordance with the board’s Covid-19 guidelines.
There will be 53 exam centres each in Gautam Budh Nagar and Ghaziabad, with every centre capable of seating 400 to 500 students, Jyoti Gupta, CBSE’S chief city coordinator for Ghaziabad said.
“Only 18 children will be allowed in one classroom. Each centre will be equipped with a medical room and a medical professional. The classrooms will be sanitised after each examination and other Covid guidelines including social distancing, mandatory masks and temperature checks will be ensured,” said Gupta, who is also the director of Delhi Public School, Sahibabad, Ghaziabad.
The Ghaziabad Parents Association (GPA) on Wednesday wrote to the Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan asking the government to issue guidelines in case a student is infected with Covid-19 during the examination.
“We have requested the Union education minister, CBSE and the Uttar Pradesh government to issue guidelines for those students who may get infected during the board examination,” said Seema Tyagi, president of GPA.
Responding to the parents’ concerns, Gupta said, “While no guidelines for such a situation have been issued so far, we are sure the CBSE will make a decision in favour of such a student... the CBSE has spread out the examination schedule over two months so that there are enough days between each examinaber tion”.
Discussing the fear of infection among students, Sunila Athley, principal of Amity International School, Vasundhara, Ghaziabad, said, “The students of classes 10 and 12 have now been fully vaccinated against Covid-19. The students have now learnt to live the new normal and are confident of giving the board exams in physical mode,” she said.
Sangeeta Hajela, principal of Delhi Public School, Indirapuram, said that with just a week to go, students are only coming to school to clarify doubts. “All students are busy revising their syllabus now. The school has asked them to give equal importance to all the subjects,” she said.
Unlike last time, there will be no self-exam centres this time (a self-exam centre is the student’s own school. Last time, rather than going to other schools for the board exams, students were allowed to write the exams in their own schools), said Renu Singh, CBSE coordinator for Gautam Budh Nagar.
“Rigorous practice tests and clarification sessions are being held by the schools to prepare the students for the exams. This time there is no provision of selfexamination centres by the CBSE. Schools are also prepared to hold examinations as the CBSE has already distributed answer sheets and question papers,” said Singh.
Some students who did not perform well during pre-board exams were given second chances by schools as well.
“We held pre-boards twice and even thrice for some children who could not perform well in the exams so that they could pass. Because of the last two years of the pandemic, children are facing challenges such as slow writing speed, which are being addressed by the teachers,” said Arul Raj, principal, Somerville School, Noida.