The spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in the country is taking a toll on all sectors including prominent exams in the country. Last month, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) took a major decision regarding the conduct of Board examinations in the country. It cancelled the CBSE Class 10 Board Exams 2021 and postponed the CBSE Class 12 Board Exam 2021 for the time being.
In general, CBSE conducts board exams for 174 subjects of Class 12 students, among which 20 subjects are considered ‘major’.
Recently in a meeting, CBSE made it clear that it is likely to hold the Class 12 board exam 2021 but the dates have not been decided yet. On the same, the Union government has invited feedback from states on whether to hold the Class 12 board examination this year. While the Union government is awaiting State’s Feedback, Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal in a recent National Consultation held on Sunday underlined the importance of the school-leaving examination.
The Minister laid stress on the fact that exam results have a major impact on every student’s life and decide their future in academics. He further emphasized the drawbacks when students are promoted without an underlined assessment structure.
In the meeting, School Education Secretary Anita Karwal also presented her thoughts on the importance of Class 12 exams. Also, she informed the States that the Union government is inclined towards going ahead with the exams in a truncated format.
There are hints that CBSE Class 12 Board Exams can be conducted in a modified format in which students will appear for examinations in 19 major subjects, at their own schools. The idea behind this thought is to avoid crowds and limit the movement of students and teachers.
Expected changes in Class 12 Board Exams:
- Each exam will be 90-minute long instead of three hours
- Students will answer objective questions on OMR (Optical Mark Reader) sheets. The answer sheets will be evaluated at the schools themselves.
- Exams are expected to start in Mid-July.
- Exams could be held tentatively in two phases — July 15 to August 1 and August 5 to August 26 — and results could be announced by September 5.
Reportedly, CBSE has proposed two options to conduct examinations. The first of the two was to conduct exams for 19 major subjects in the existing format, over three months. But since the Pandemic situation has made it difficult to find an uninterrupted three-month window, the government is keen to adopt the second option of shorter exams or a truncated version.
A meeting was called by the Centre on Sunday with state governments to seek their feedback on the two options proposed and was chaired by Defence Minister Rajanth Singh.
As per sources, States have been asked to send their feedback in writing by May 25 after which the Education Ministry is expected to announce their final decision on June 1.
