CISCE defers class 10, 12 exams in view of surge in Covid cases

The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) on Friday deferred the board exams for classes 10 and 12 in view of a rise in COVID-19 cases across the country.

India added a record 2,17,353 new coronavirus infections in a day taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 1,42,91,917, while active cases surpassed the 15-lakh mark, according to Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

In light of the nationwide surge in coronavirus cases, the class 10 and 12 exams which were to be held from May 4 have been deferred, CISCE's chief executive and secretary Gerry Arathoon said.

"We will closely monitor the situation and review it in the first week of June to take a final decision on conduct of examination," he said.

"While class 12 exams will be conducted at a later stage, class 10 students will get an option to either appear in offline exams later or get evaluated on basis of fair and unbiased criteria to be developed by board," Arathoon added.

Earlier this week, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had cancelled its class 10 board exams and deferred the class 12 board exams. Several state boards have postponed or cancelled their exams too.

The CISCE exams last year had been cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Students were evaluated based on internal assessment.

The education board had told the Supreme Court last year that it would not provide students with an option of re-examination and they will solely be evaluated on the basis of internal assessment.

As per the scheme, candidates were assessed based on the best three percentage marks obtained in subjects for which board exams were conducted and the marks of their internal assessment as well as project work were taken into account.