The Central Board of Secondary Education will conduct the 2021 board exams for Classes 10 and 12 in February-March like any other year, a top board official confirmed on Tuesday. According to several news reports, CBSE has no plans to delay the board exams due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the exams will likely be held offline.
Dates for the exams are expected to be released anytime this week and the admit cards will be out too soon after the final dates are announced. There is also a possibility that students will get more gap days between their exams as compared to 2019 due to the prevailing COVID-19 situation and academic loss.
Speaking to the Times of India, Sanyam Bhardwaj, the Controller of Examinations, CBSE asserted that "CBSE successfully completed the compartment exams amid the pandemic and based on the learning from that we will manage board exams in 2021 in offline mode."
Giving much relief to the students and parents, Bhardwaj further added "While preparing the datasheet in 2019, students got more than enough gap between the two exams. Even if some exams were scheduled back to back, it was made sure that the subsequent exam was easy." This year too they might be given more gap days.
Talking about the practical examinations, Bhardwaj said that the board hopes state governments will soon reopen schools and students will get time to prepare for the exams. "Usually, schools get around 1.5 months. This year, they may get more than two months to conduct practical exams and complete all formalities while keeping COVID-19 guidelines in mind," TOI quoted him as saying.
To further address queries, Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal announced that he will conduct an online live interaction with students and parents across the country to discuss details of the upcoming CBSE board exams and other competitive exams like JEE and NEET.
