Decision on Class12 board exams to be taken at the earliest: Nishank

A high-level meet could not arrive at a decision on the pending Class 12 board exams on Sunday, with Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank seeking detailed suggestions from state governments by May 25 and asserting that "an informed, collaborative" final call will be taken at the earliest. The Centre has convened a high level meeting in New Delhi to discuss CBSE Class 12 Board exams and other upcoming entrance tests.The meeting was chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, It is  attended by Union Ministers Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Smriti Irani and Prakash Javadekar, among others. Also present were the education ministers of all states, and the education secretaries and chairpersons of the state examination boards. Ramesh Pokhriyal said, this is because PM Narendra Modi asked for “wide consultations” with everyone before a final decision was taken on the CBSE board exam 2021.

It is said that the govt likely to favour a short duration exam for the Class 12 boards and the state boards will be allowed to take their own decision. Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal will share more information about format and also the CBSE Class 12 board exam dates on June 1.The option of holding CBSE board exams in 19 major subjects was discussed and found support from many states. For other subjects, a different way will be found for evaluation such as internal assessments. Another option has been discussed at the meeting as well -- holding shorter 90-minute exams for major subjects in schools. Besides, the union education minister had asked teachers, students, parents and others to share their valuable suggestions regarding the board exams and other exams on his Twitter handle.

Last year, the board exams were disrupted midway due to the pandemic and lockdown and remaining exams had to be rescheduled. But those exams also could not be held and the results were finally declared on the basis of an assessment scheme.This time, the Board Exams for Class X were cancelled and an internal assessment was suggested by the CBSE. This year14,30,247 students have registered for the Class 12 exams. 

In the meetimg, two options were reportedly. The first was conducting the exams in the present format for the major subjects and marking for the rest of the subjects on the basis of the performance in these papers. The second was having the exams in the students' home schools, reducing the duration and changing the exam pattern. The Delhi government is not in favour of these options. We cannot play with the safety of students just to fulfil our stubborn wishes, Manish Sisodiya, Dy CM said.