Out of the 40 papers for Class 10 and 12 board examinations that the Central Board of Secondary Education was forced to put on hold due to the situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, only papers in 12 key subjects for Class 12 will be rescheduled. The remaining examinations will not be held, CBSE said in a statement on Wednesday evening.
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As the situation is still uncertain, the Board has not announced fresh dates for the rescheduled examinations. Instead, it promised to give students, schools and all stakeholders at least 10 days notice as and when it is in a position to hold the examinations again.
The examination schedule was disrupted when the Board took the precautionary measure of halting examinations from March 19, even before the lockdown was announced.
Two subjects
At that point, Class 10 students had almost completed their exams, with only two subjects — Information and Communication Technology, and Computer Applications — remaining. Both of those exams will not be held now, and the Board said it would provide alternative instructions for assessing those students.
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For Class 12 students, however, there were still eight days remaining in the examination schedule after March 19, including several major papers, essential for students’ admission to colleges and universities. Thus, CBSE has said it will now reschedule papers in 12 subjects: Business Studies, Geography, Hindi (both Elective and Core), Home Science, Sociology, Computer Science (old and new), Informatics Practicals (old and new), Information Technology and Biotechnology.
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The remaining 26 papers — including Business Administration and a string of regional and foreign languages — will not be conducted at all, and alternative arrangements for assessment will be made.
For students in CBSE schools located outside of India, no further board examinations will be held for this year.
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For some students in north-eastern Delhi, their examination schedule was disrupted even earlier, with violence in the area in February causing a postponement of some examinations in more than 80 centres. CBSE will reschedule 17 papers — 6 for Class 10, and 11 for Class 12 — for these students as well, in addition to the 12 papers being rescheduled for the whole country.
Evaluation work
Evaluation work, which has also come to a halt due to the lockdown, will be rescheduled with 3-4 days’ notice once the situation improves, said the CBSE statement.
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Apart from the board examinations, year-end examinations were disrupted at many schools. All students in Classes 1 to 8 will now be automatically promoted, said CBSE.
For students in Classes 9 and 11 who could not write their year-end examination, promotion will be based on internal assessments which have already been conducted, including project work, periodic tests and term examinations. Remedial interventions, including online or offline tests, may be offered to those students who do not qualify for promotion, said the statement.
Teach online: CISCE
The Council of Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) has written to all schools affiliated to it to start online and virtual teaching during the period of lockdown.
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A letter by Gerry Arathoon, Chief Executive and Secretary of the council, addressed to principals of affiliated schools, states that all academic work in the schools had been put on hold which was “a major concern for the council.”
Pointing out that several free learning applications were available for various subjects, the council suggests that schools take the help of the Human Resource Development Ministry’s SWAYAM e-learning portal for various teacher and student enrichment activities.
JEE-Advanced postponed
IIT Delhi, the organising institute for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE-Advanced) 2020, on Wednesday announced that it has postponed the examination scheduled to be held on May 17.
“JEE (Main) 2020 April examination has been postponed due to COVID-19 outbreak. JEE (Advanced) 2020, which was scheduled to be held on May 17, thus stands postponed and will be rescheduled after JEE (Main) 2020,” the institute said.
The JEE (Advanced) is used by the 23 IITs in the country to offer admissions to the undergraduate courses leading to a Bachelor’s, Integrated Master’s or Bachelor’s-Master’s Dual Degree in Engineering, Science or Architecture.
The HRD Ministry’s National Testing Agency (NTA) has said the JEE-Mains is likely to be held in the last week of May.
