A relief for worried students

Students all over the nation prepare all year long to appear for their Classes X and XII exams. These exams are very crucial as they determine which college students get into. These exams are given very high importance in our nation as they determine the future for millions of students appearing for these examinations. Students appearing for these exams are under tremendous pressure to do well. Due to Covid-19, students across the entire nation were worried about when and how these much important exams would be conducted. CBSE and ICSE earlier had declared that they would conduct exams in the month of July. Recently a Writ Petition was filed in the Apex Court wherein postponement or cancellation of these exams was sought as the conditions in the nation are not conducive for conducting such important examinations. An affidavit from Mr Sanyam Bhardwaj, the Controller of Examination in Central Board of Secondary Examination (CBSE) states that CBSE has decided to cancel the examinations scheduled to be conducted from 1st July to 15th July 2020 and it also suggested a scheme for a fair assessment of students. Today, on 26th June 2020, the Apex Court accepted this draft notice from CBSE and thus accepted that there would be no examinations conducted by CBSE for Classes X and XII students. It was during this hearing that ICSE also proposed to cancel all of the examinations to be conducted by them for Classes X and XII. The Supreme Court of India has accepted this proposal as well and has asked ICSE to issue a notice to this cause by the earliest.

Assessment Scheme by CBSE:

The assessment scheme is as follows:

• Those who have appeared for all examinations, their result shall be based on their performance in the examinations.
• Those who have appeared for examinations for more than 3 subjects, the average of the marks obtained by the student in the best three performing subjects will be awarded in the subjects whose examinations have been cancelled.
• Those who have appeared for examinations for only 3 subjects, the average of the marks obtained by the student in the best two performing subjects will be awarded in the subjects whose examinations have been cancelled.
• Those who have appeared for examinations for less than 3 subjects, their result will be declared based on their performance in the internal examinations/ practical examination/ project assignments. Surprisingly, these students can appear for optional examinations which will be conducted later in the year when the conditions are conducive. These examinations are not mandatory and if the student chooses to appear for these optional examinations then their result shall be based on the performance in these exams.

Conclusion:

The assessment scheme of ICSE is a little different from CBSE’s assessment scheme and will be released soon by the board. ICSE also considers conducting optional examinations later in the year. An optional examination is a fair chance for students to improve their grades if they have not fared well in their internal examinations/ practical examination/ project assignments. There are very few students who have appeared for examinations for less than 3 subjects and the majority of them are in Delhi. The Supreme Court has further stated that if the conditions are not conducive and if it is too late to conduct these optional exams, both the boards may cancel these optional examinations. Though this chance is only offered to students of Class XII and not to students of Class X, which means the result declared for Class X shall be final. Thanks to this decision, students will now be safe from the threat of contacting Covid-19 virus. This was a necessary step taken by the two central boards of education as Covid-19 situations seem to be worsening in India with the number of patients rising by thousands daily.