Class 10, 12 Students Can Skip ICSE Board Exams From July 1; Pre-Board Marks Will Be Their Final Result

Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, schools and colleges have been shutdown across the country since March 16, while the nationwide lockdown was announced on March 24.

While the different phases of Unlock and the conditions today, have seen several eased up restrictions, schools and colleges continue to remain closed.

Now, the CISCE board has announced that its students will be given the option to either appear for pending board exams, or they can be marked on the basis of their performance in pre-board exams or internal assessment.

Remaining Board Exams not Compulsory for CISCE Students?

In response to a petition filed by a parent of a CISCE board student, to cancel the exams due to a surge in the Covid-19 cases across the country, the board submitted the proposal before the Bombay High Court on Monday and has come to final conclusions and new announcements.

The students will be given two options:

• They can either appear for the rescheduled exams, or
• Choose to have their results based on their performance in the pre-board exams or internal assessment.

The students must make a note that the they (students) can make this option only for the pending exams and not for the exams which have already been conducted, as they will be calculated as per performance in the exam only.

The board also clarified that the students will not be entitled to make a subject-wise choice between the two options for pending exams.

According to Gerry Arathoon, Chief Executive and Secretary, Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, the students will have to communicate their option to their respective schools by June 22.

What is CBSE’s Take on this?

All the exams that were postponed due to the lockdown, have now be rescheduled to be conducted from July 1 to 14.

While on the one end, exams are crucial, on the other end, parents are naturally being worried about the health of their children to give exams at such a time.

While CISCE has announced that its students can make a tradeoff for pending examination subjects, CBSE has a very different take on this.

The Central Board of Secondary Education will only be conducting exams in 29 subjects crucial for promotion and admission to higher educational institutions and not for all the pending subjects, unlike CISCE.

The pending exams for CBSE are scheduled from July 1 to 15.

The authoritative bodies want to ensure that they complete all the pending exams before competitive examinations appear. While engineering entrance exam JEE-Mains is scheduled to be held from July 18 to 23, medical entrance exam NEET is scheduled for July 26.

CBSE has allowed the differently abled students to not appear for pending board exams, cancelling examinations for its around 250 schools situated abroad and has adopted the criteria of awarding marks on the basis of either practical exams conducted or the internal assessment marks.

Some parents have filed a petition in the Supreme Court, for CBSE to declare results on the basis of tests already conducted and calculate the total, based upon the average internal assessment marks secured in the remaining subjects.