CBSE Board Exams from May 4 to June 10: Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal announces final dates

The Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal on December 31 announced that the CBSE Board exams for Classes 10 and 12 will be held from May 4 to June 10. In a video announcement, he said that the exams will also have ample gaps in between but will definitely be offline.

"After a lot of discussions and debates, we have decided to start the exams from May 4 and try to finish them by June 10. Results will be declared on July 15. Practicals will begin from March 1," said the Union Education Minister during his last address of the year. Pokhriyal had earlier announced that CBSE is making necessary preparations for conducting the 2021 board examinations after taking into consideration the suggestions given by students, teachers and parents.

The exams will be offline as the schools in rural areas do not have proper connectivity. The minister, in one of his many live sessions, had said that the CBSE will cut the syllabus by 30 per cent. CBSE officials had reportedly said that the board exams will be conducted in February or March but there has been no formal confirmation till today. There is also a possibility that the students will get more gap days between the exams due to the COVID 19.

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.