After a lot of confusion, the final dates of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will be announced by the Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' on December 31, 2020, at 6 pm through a webinar on his official social media handles. "Major announcements for students & parents! I will announce the date when the exams will commence for students appearing for #CBSE board exams in 2021. Stay tuned," the Minister wrote on his Twitter on Saturday.

Pokhriyal had conducted several other live sessions in the past few weeks interacting with students, parents and teachers to discuss the issues and concerns surrounding the 2021 board exams, JEE and NEET examinations. Pokhriyal announced the dates of JEE Main 2021 on December 16 after a lot of confusion among students, parents across the country due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The exams will be held from February 23 to 26 and will also be held four times from next year — February, March, April and May. For the first time, JEE Main 2021 will be held in 13 languages — English, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.

Students across the country have been asking the minister to postpone the CBSE board exams so that they get more time on their hands to prepare for it amid the prevailing conditions due to the pandemic. Schools, colleges and educational institutions have been shut down since March due to the unprecedented lockdown thus leading to an irregular academic regime.

On Twitter, numerous students want the exams to be postponed to June, much like the West Bengal board examinations have been. Some have even gone to the extent of stating that students might go into lifelong depression or even commit suicide if the exams are conducted early in 2021.

Others pointed out that due to the lack of basic internet connection in several areas, not all students have been able to attend regular online classes.