CBSE Class 12 board exam 2021 has been cancelled by the Union Govt on Tuesday, June 1. The decision made in the interest of students was announced after a key conference held by PM Modi.
Here are some key highlights that you shouldn’t miss out on.
● CBSE will conduct the exam for students willing to write the exams once the crisis recedes.
● CBSE to improvise an objective method to decide on evaluation.
● CBSE will release a detailed assessment scheme on the official website soon.
● The average of the last three internal exams to be evaluated while preparing for the CBSE Class 12 board exam 2021.
● More detailed report on assessment criteria to be released by June 3.
● College admission criteria and other major decisions on entrance exams to be released soon.
CBSE examinations have been a hot issue in the past few months with class 12 examinations especially being the question of the hour. It was announced in the month of April that the Class 10 CBSE Board exams will be cancelled whereas class 12 exams will be postponed. But the same month India was hit by a second wave of the pandemic worse than the first one. This life threatening situation brought with it a sea of mixed opinions from the people (of course students included) as far as the class 12 exams were concerned. The Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal announced on May 23 that the final decision regarding the board exams would be announced on June 1. Putting an end to the agony of the students and the parents, it has finally been decided that class 12th CBSE boards be cancelled. The same suit was asked to be followed by CISCE.
The decision came after a high-level meeting between the Prime Minister and various Union Ministers. The Prime Minister and the ministry have put students’ health at importance and said that students should not be forced to write exams in such stressful times.
Now this decision also leaves students questioning the results and how it would be calculated. In the same meeting it was said that the results will be based on a well-defined objective criteria in a time-bound manner, to keep everything fair. Albeit the result criteria has not yet been confirmed and announced many experts believe that it will be in the lines of Class 10 result calculation criteria.
Various media reports state that recently CBSE and CISCE asked their respective schools to submit the data of Class 12 students’ performance in previous classes 11, 10 and 9 respectively. Speculations are being made that for the final result of Class 12 students marks could be given on a calculation of internal marks from these past three years. The final assessment criteria and result declaration will be released on the official website of both the boards. As for CBSE students, those who don’t feel as satisfied with their given marks will be given a chance to write the exams once the situation subsides as per government sources.
The cancellation of the exams comes as a great worry in aspects of college admissions as well. Various entrance exams such as NEET and JEE are also expected to take the similar fate as the board exams. Before even the cancellation of 12 boards, the April and May sessions of JEE Main were postponed because of the second wave. It is being believed that JEE Main may be rescheduled to September followed by JEE Advanced in October. As far as NEET is concerned no dates have been postponed yet. NEET 2021 for undergraduate medical and dental courses is scheduled to be held on 1 August 2021.
A large number of Indian students every year apply to study abroad and this year the cancellation comes as somewhat of a blow for study abroad aspirants. According to foregin university experts more than 91% of Class 12 students showed an interest in studying abroad.
Earlier a community of study abroad students had written to CBSE requesting the decision be quickly made as delay in exams mean delay in results and passing certificates. Those who have been accepted for admission need to submit their passing certificates timely so the decision being held on Class 12 exams was a matter of concern. To deal with the matter experts suggested that those who have gotten admission in foregin universities should themselves reach out to the University and discuss their situation.
With the exams cancelled the best that students can do right now is focus on preparation of various college entrance exams. All this indecision and uncertainty had class 12 students across India on their toes, it is now they can finally take a sigh of relief. Had there been no second wave, the exams were scheduled to be held from May 14th to June 1st. Earlier the government stated that the safety and well being of the students is their top priority, since the exam centres can turn into hotspots resulting in a wider spread of the disease. This concern has played a major role in putting this current decision through. Many students took to social media to state their opinions. On one side were the ones who agreed with the ministry saying that their health is indeed their top priority. On the other were those who argued that cancellation of exams meant more than a year of their preparation gone in vain, since the class 12 board exam is one of the most important ones in Indian education system.
