After cancelling the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) class Xth boards exam, the decision regarding class XIIth examination 2021 is due.
However, on the 23rd of May, the Union Education Minister Ramesh ‘Nishank’ Pokhriyal clarified and said the examination for the CBSE class XIIth would be conducted soon. According to sources, Mr. Ramesh Pokhriyal said, the exams are likely to be held in July, following all the guidelines and protocols of the Wuhan virus also known as the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19.) The decision to hold the examination with different possibilities was taken at the high level meeting between the Centre and state governments. Many state governments supported the decision to conduct the examinations, as cancelling them may cost the future of students who would be preparing for graduation degrees. During the high level meeting, the officials unanimously agreed to conduct examinations for 19 major subjects (both commerce and science,) whereas marking for the remaining additional subjects would be given as per internal assessments. Another suggestion was to take 12th exams in phases, first phase from the 15th of July to 1st of August and the second phase would be from the 5th of August to the 26th of August. Another option proposed by the Union Government to conduct exams was to conduct exams on the school premises. Instead of holding an examination of 180 minutes, students would be given 90 minutes. Students who would fail to appear for the examination would be given a second chance in the next round of exams being conducted.
The Education Minister said, the final decision regarding the examination, format, schedule and other details would be shared on the 1st of June. The option of holding CBSE board exams in 19 major subjects was discussed and found support from many states. For other subjects, a different way would be found for evaluation such as internal assessments.
The Union Ministry asked the respective states to provide their views on the options and submit a detailed report by the 25th of May. Later, on the 1st of June, the Union Education Minister would conduct another meeting, following which they would release a detailed schedule of class XIIth examinations.
The high level meeting conducted on Sunday was chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. In attendance were the Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal, the Minister of Women and Child Smriti Zubin Irani, the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar.
In addition, education ministers, education secretaries and chairpersons of the State Examination Board of all states were also present during the meeting.
Meanwhile, upset and disappointed with the Union Ministry’s decision, students and teachers took to Twitter and called for the cancellation of the Class XIIth boards exams. After the announcement of Ramesh Pokhriyal, an angry student took to Twitter and said, “I urge the Government to make space in crematoriums for us when we go to give boards.”
Another similar tweet against the conduct of 12th examination read, “There are more children giving the “main” exams than the “timepass” ones. And by reducing the exam time to 1 1/2 hour you’re not fooling anybody please we want to live. (Sic.)”
Another student from Kerala said, “narendramodi I am Vyshak.s from kerala.We [ students ] are worried about our CBSE 12th board exam. I came to know that the final decision is yours. We are not afraid of our exam but we are afraid of COVID 19 and MUCORMYCOSIS . So i kindly request you to #CancelExamsSaveStudents. (Sic.)”
Soon, Twitter flooded with messages and posts, demanding cancellation of the exams with #CancelExamsSaveStudents #CancelBoardsExams #
Meanwhile, a final decision regarding the CBSE 12th examination for academic year 2020-2021 would be taken on the 1st of June.
Stay tuned for further updates.
