The Indian government remains undecided on when it would conduct the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) exams for classes 10 and 12, but said the exams would be held offline, after February 2021 and the dates would be announced soon, the local media recently.
In an online interaction with teachers and other stakeholders on Tuesday, Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal added that the exams - which are usually held in March-April - would not be postponed in view of the coronavirus pandemic, but the syllabus has been reduced.
"I received a lot of requests from students and teachers to postpone CBSE board exams for Class 10 and 12. Keeping the COVID-19 pandemic in mind, we have decided that board exams will not be held in February. Dates would be announced soon," Pokhriyal said.
Unlike classes, the board exams would not be held online since "many schools are in rural areas", the minister said.
The government has been consulting students over the issue of conducting board exams and said the majority were in its favor.
"The CBSE board exams will be conducted on a reduced syllabus. Thirty percent of the total syllabus has been scrapped. While some states have declared as much, others are likely to make an announcement soon. There will also be 33 per cent internal choice in the board exam," the minister said.
"We cannot allow COVID-19 to impact students and have them labelled as COVID-era students who passed without clearing any exams. We have organised JEE, NEET this year. They were among the biggest exams conducted amid the pandemic," Pokhriyal said.
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