We all are aware of the constant rise in Covid cases in the country and therefore currently its not feasible for conducting examinations for the students. So Besides CBSE and ICSE, most state board exams have been either cancelled or postponed and the entrance exams for professional courses such as JEE, NEET, etc are also postponed.
But the Central Board of Secondary Education(CBSE) had been thinking of all the alternatives to hold class 12th board exams which were postponed in the month of April due to a spike in Covid infection. One of the alternatives was to conduct examinations only for “major subjects” in usual format or the students will have to take up exams in their home schools in a shorter format and duration with short answers. However it was told that the final call would be taken after reviewing the situation in the month of June mostly by the first week on the basis of inputs obtained from the ministry of education.
In order to discuss the pending board examinations for class 12th and entrance exams for professional courses, Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal decided to have a high level meeting on 23rd May Sunday with all the state’s education ministers, secretaries and chairpersons of state examination boards along with the stakeholders.
Soon after the announcement of the virtual chair meeting was made, students had tweeted tagging the Prime Minister, Education Minister, CBSE and others. Nearly 3.5 Lakhs tweets were found on 22nd May Saturday by 8pm, as per the reports.
After the high- level meeting, Manish Sisodia who is a Deputy Chief Minister held a press conference to highlight the suggestions shared with the central government. He mentioned that the Delhi government is not in favour of conducting board exams as all the students are not vaccinated yet. He also requested the central government to increase the vaccination drive and make it available for all students before the exams to avoid the spread of virus.
While the students were in a dilemma the CBSE has proposed to conduct exams between July 15th to August 26th and the results might be out in the month of September. By June 1st the board will announce its final decision.
The parents and students are worried about their health, to ensure the safety exams will not be conducted as usual. The board has suggested holding exams for major subjects for 90minutes (1.5 hours) rather than 3hours.
There chances for change in exam pattern if plan B will be taken into consideration. Then there would be multiple choice questions (MCQs) and short answer questions, so that the students can finish within the given time. Another advantage of the plan is that if any student misses to attend exams due to Covid issues then he/she will be allowed to appear for the exam after 15 day. But we will get to know about the acceptance of plan B after June 1st.
Now as there is talk about the third wave of the pandemic the government must take the decision keeping in mind the safety and security of students and teachers.
