In the wake of the alarming surge in COVID cases, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Wednesday decided to cancel its Class-10 board exams and postpone Class 12 board exams. But CBSE isn’t the only Board taking such a decision. Several other states have also taken calls to either postpone or cancel their Board examinations.
Which are these states and what decisions have been taken?
What did the CBSE say?
The Ministry of Education has cancelled Board exams for Class 10 students, which were scheduled to be held from 4 May, and postponed the Class 12 examinations.
How will the Class 10 results be declared?
In a press note, CBSE stated that the results of Class 10 exams will be prepared on the basis of an ‘objective criterion’ to be developed by the Board.
When will the Class 12 examination be held?
CBSE said that Class 12 exams will be held later. The board will review the situation on 1 June 2021 and take a decision. Students will be given a notice of at least 15 days before the exams begin.
Will CISCE Exams happen as planned?
No, the CISCE has decided to postpone Class 12 exams. The situation will be reassessed in the first week of June. The ICSE, ISC exams have been put off, and Class X students can decide whether or not to take the board exam.
What are the states which have taken similar decisions?
Among the states that have decided to either cancel or postpone their Board examinations are Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.
Which states have postponed exams for Class 10 and 12?
Uttar Pradesh has postponed the state Board examinations for Classes 10 and 12. All Classes from 1 to 12 will also remain closed till 15 May. The government said that fresh dates for the examinations will be announced sometime in May.
Similarly, the Himachal Pradesh government announced that the ongoing state board examinations for classes 10 and 12 as well as undergraduate examinations starting on 17 April have been postponed. A government spokesperson said the situation will be reviewed on May 1 to decide future course of action.
Chhattisgarh Board postponed Class-10 exams, but Class-12 exams will proceed as planned.
Maharashtra, too, has postponed the state Board exams for classes 10 and 12. The Class 12 exams will now be held by the end of May and the Class 10 exams will be conducted in June.
Gujarat has also decided to postpone Class-10 and 12 Board examinations that were scheduled to be held between 10 May and 25 May. New dates will be announced after reviewing the COVID-19 situation on 15 May. All other classes, starting from Class 1, will be promoted without tests.
Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are also among the states that have decided to postpone Class-10 and 12 final exams. In MP, the examinations for all the classes will begin in the first week of June and end in the last week.
In Odisha, all students of classes 9 and 11 in the academic year 2020-21 will be promoted without examinations. A decision on Board exams will be taken in the first week of June.
Which states have cancelled Class-10 exams and postponed those for Class 12?
In Haryana, Class-10 Board exams have been cancelled while Class-12 exams have been postponed. Class-10 students will be evaluated based on internal assessment.
Meanwhile, Punjab has decided to promote all Class 5, 8 and 10 students without examinations. Class 12 state Board examinations have already been postponed and will be conducted once the situation improves.
Are any other states considering a cancellation or postponement?
Some states, like West Bengal, are monitoring the situation.
Karnataka, Kerala, Meghalaya, and Goa said they will conduct the exams as scheduled. The Andhra Pradesh government, too, will hold the Class-10 and Class-12 Board exams as per schedule.
What about the ICSE?
ICSE board examinations for class 10 and 12 have been deferred.
As per a press release on the official site of the Board, the examinations will be reviewed and a final decision on the conduct of the exams will be taken in the first week of June.
Further, the press release informs that while the ISC (Class 12) exams will be conducted at a later date, Class 10 students will be given the following options:
- To write the offline exam, along with class 12 students
- To not write the offline exam. In this case, the Board will “develop a fair and unbiased criterion while preparing the result of such candidates.”
What other institutes have taken similar decisions?
Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) announced that it had postponed Class-10 and 12 exams at its schools. The exams were scheduled to be held from Thursday.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)