The buzz around the postponement of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India - Chartered Accountants (ICAI CA) exams refuses to die down as aspirants on social media platforms, especially X, are advocating for its postponement owing to the Lok Sabha Elections 2024.
But why is it that ICAI is not postponing the exams? We explore three possible reasons:
1) There are other exams scheduled during the crucial General Elections 2024, including Common University Entrance Test (CUET) between May 15 and May 31, 2024 and the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET UG) 2024 exam which is scheduled for May 5 (Sunday).
Being mindful of the already scheduled other exams, perhaps ICAI wants to avoid last minute clashes with these exams, which might aggravate the students' concerns further.
2) ICAI had announced that CA exams will now happen in three cycles. To ensure this, it is vital that there is a minimum gap of four months between the exams.
Hence, to ensure that the three cycles are conducted smoothly, without any hassles or overlaps, the ICAI is sticking to the rescheduled dates.
3) The ICAI, as per the announcement dated March 24, had reopened the correction window for May 2024 CA exams. As per this, the candidates of Chartered Accountants Intermediate and Final Examinations seeking change of examination city, group and medium could have done so.
The dates were March 27 to March 29, 2024.
For example, there is a student currently living in Delhi whose hometown is Kolkata. Their exam centre is currently in Delhi. This student was given the opportunity within the aforementioned dates to change their exam centre to Kolkata so that they can vote and write the exam too.
What happened so far?
On March 20, the ICAI rescheduled the CA exams owing to the Lok Sabha elections. As per the revised schedule, the Intermediate course exams for Group 1, which were initially scheduled on May 3, 5 and 7, will now be held on May 3, 5, and 9. For Group 2, the Intermediate course exam will be held on May 11, 15 and 17 as against the planned dates of May 9, 11 and 13.
Similarly, for the Final exams, the ICAI announced May 2, 4 and 8 for Group 1, which was earlier scheduled on May 2, 4 and 6. For Group 2, the exam will be held on May 10, 14 and 16, which was earlier supposed to be conducted on May 8, 10 and 12.
Thus, the CA exams are scheduled from May 2 to 17.
However, aspirants of the exam say that this doesn’t provide them with relief in any way, as the exams are still being held during elections, which are from April 19 to June 1.
What are students saying?
Several candidates say that they find themselves unable to prioritise between casting their vote and appearing for their exams. In this vein, they have been demanding that the exams be postponed until after the elections.
