The global lockdown in the country and of educational institutions is going to cause a significant (and likely unequal) interruption in students’ learning, disruptions in internal assessments, and the cancellation of public assessments for qualifications or their replacement by an inferior alternative.
India Today got talking with CBSE Secretary Anurag Tripathy to understand the latest CBSE board exam updates and what the board is planning for students.
Anurag Tripathy clarified the remaining CBSE board exams, what students should do during the lockdown, availability of school books, and the CBSE board exam paper evaluation, among other things.
Below is a list of CBSE updates given by Anurag Tripathy:
- CBSE Class 10 exams canceled, Class 12 Board exams after lockdown lifts
“For the minor CBSE Class 10 exams that have been canceled, students will be evaluated based on their internal assessment marks, Tripathy clarified.”
Anurag Tripathy clarified that as per the CBSE notification released on April 1, all remaining CBSE Class 10 board exams had been canceled.
Students need to note except for the CBSE Class 10 students of North Delhi whose board exams had been postponed due to violence, and only minor Class 10 board exams had been pending for the rest of India – these small exams have been canceled.
But the major CBSE Class 10 subjects which had been postponed in North Delhi are yet to take place after lockdown is lifted.
And for CBSE Class 12 board exams, exams of only 12 significant subjects would be carried out after the lockdown, which would be required for college admissions.
- CBSE board exam paper evaluation needs 1.5 to 2 months
“We will need 1.5 to 2 months to carry out the paper evaluation. As soon as we get the advisory from the Central government, we can start the paper evaluation process while maintaining social distancing,” he said.
He also said that certain state boards such as the MP Board had already started answer sheet evaluation while maintaining social distancing by keeping two to four teachers in a single room only.
Tripathy said that even though CBSE had decided to declare the CBSE Class 10 board results as per the exams already conducted, they hadn’t been able to start with the paper evaluation yet following which they would be able to declare the CBSE Board Exam Results in 2020.
He clarified that CBSE paper evaluation is begun just a few days after board exams start, and the process is carried out parallelly to the board exams. CBSE doesn’t want for exams to be over for evaluation to begin, he said. Around 70% of CBSE answer sheets still need to be evaluated even though some of them were done in the 15 days of evaluation before the Covid-19 lockdown was imposed. There are around 35 lakh students who appear for board exams, and two crore CBSE answer sheets need to be checked, Tripathy said.
Students and parents also need to note that on April 28, HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank met the education ministers of all the states and advised them to start with the paper evaluation of state board exams.
He also asked the ministers to make provisions for CBSE to carry out their answer sheet evaluation in the respective states as well.
- ‘No need to panic about NEET, JEE.’
Tripathy said that since the competitive exams like NEET and JEE, which are carried out after the board exams have also been postponed, students don’t need to worry about them right now.
The CBSE secretary advised students and parents not to panic because of the tough situation created due to the lockdown because exams had been postponed not just in India but all over the world.
“The situation is the same for all boards in the country, and all countries in the world,” he told India Today.
“Even though it is genuinely a very problematic situation especially for students who are appearing or the CBSE Class 12 board exams, there is nothing we can do right now except be patient,” he added.
He added that officials and parents should emotionally support students during these tough times and create an atmosphere at home that is conducive to learning without stress.
- ‘CBSE board exams can be carried out in 10 to 12 days after lockdown opens.’
“But if the situation is not good and the lockdown gets extended, then CBSE has to come up with a new plan,” he said.
CBSE Secretary Anurag Tripathy said that the lockdown was supposed to be lifted on May 3. If the government felt that the situation was kind enough to start with exams again, then the remaining CBSE board exams could be carried out in just 10-12 days.
However, he said that it wasn’t possible to say anything at the moment.
Students should keep a check on the official CBSE website to keep track of the latest updates.
- CBSE books available online free of cost
Students should also note that the Home Ministry on April 22 allowed shops selling school books to be opened during the ongoing Covid-19 lockdown.
“NCERT has put up 100% of its books online. Any student can download those books and study them free of cost,” said Tripathy.
Student can choose to take the print out the study material or can choose to study on their desktops
HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal, in his April 28 meeting with state education ministers had also repeated the same.
‘Routine online classes for students may be Traumatic’
“We have issued an advisory that asks teachers to use the 40 minutes to question students, give out projects and assignments, and develop the curiosity of students,” said the CBSE Secretary.
Keeping these points apart, Tripathy also advised CBSE teachers to carry out online classes to not go by the same formula as regular physical classes where a teacher comes and talks in front of the screen for 40 minutes and goes away as it wouldn’t help in the development of the students. He said that after 10-15 minutes of online classes, teachers should involve students in activities so that the pressure of online classes is reduced and they learn better as well.
He added that it could be deeply disturbing for young students if they had to deal with many hours like 4-5 hours of online classes every day apart from the stress of the Covid-19 lockdown that keeps them from going outside or meeting their friends.
Thus, parents and teachers would have to ensure that the approach remains balanced for students while studying during the lockdown.
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