No Decision On CBSE Board Exam 2021 Date Yet, To Be Held Offline: Official

The Central Board Of Secondary Education (CBSE) has not yet taken a final decision regarding the Class 10 and Class 12 board exams to be held next year. The CBSE board exam 2021 will be held in offline or written mode, as and when they are to be conducted, the board’s spokesperson, Rama Sharma said. CBSE officials on Wednesday said consultations on dates for the conduct of the examination are still underway.

"No final decision has been taken regarding the dates for conduct of board exams, and consultations with stakeholders are still in process. The exams, as and when they are conducted, will be in written mode and not in an online mode. The exams will be conducted following all COVID protocols," a senior CBSE official said.

"In case students are not able to do practicals in classes before the exams, alternatives to practical exams will have to be explored," the official added.

Education Minister’s Interaction With Students Regarding Board, Entrance Exams

Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ previously said that he will interact with education stakeholders on December 10 regarding the upcoming board exams. The minister and his ministry have asked students, parents, and teachers to send their feedback using #EducationMinisterGoesLive on Twitter.

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Entrance and board exams will be conducted only after proper consultation with students, teachers and parents, the minister had said.

CBSE Board Exam 2021: What Happened So Far

With no official announcement, students, in November, started asking for clarity regarding CBSE board exam 2021 dates. A few days later, CBSE secretary Anurag Tripathi said in a webinar that the board exams will be held for sure in 2021 and dates will be announced soon.

Soon after the announcement, media reports claimed that CBSE had released a tentative schedule for the Class 12 board practical exams and as per the claims, the CBSE Class 12 practical exams will be held between January 1 and February 8, 2021.

A board official later confirmed to NDTV that no official announcement had been made by the board regarding exam dates yet.

CBSE has, however, released sample papers for the upcoming board exams. The papers, along with marking schemes, are available on the board website.

Education Minister’s Meeting With Top Officials

On November 26, Mr Pokhriyal held a review meeting with higher and secondary education secretaries and other officials at his ministry. In the meeting, the minister directed the National Testing Agency (NTA) to review the academic situation in state and central education boards before finalising the syllabus for entrance exams.

In the same meeting, it was decided that the Education Ministry will invite suggestions from students, parents and teachers regarding the conduct of exams in 2021.

Schools across the country were closed in March to contain the spread of COVID-19 and partially reopened in some states from October 15. However, a few states decided to keep them closed in view of a spike in infections.

The board exams that were being conducted in March had to be postponed mid-way. The exams were later cancelled, and the results were announced on the basis of an alternative assessment scheme.

Competitive exams like JEE and NEET were also postponed twice this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

There have been demands for postponement of CBSE board exams to May, 2021, in view of the continued closure of schools and teaching-learning activities being completely online.

The Joint Entrance Exam (JEE)-Main for admission to engineering colleges across the country is likely to be held in February instead of January, according to officials.