The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is likely to return to its pre-pandemic format of conducting board exams once a year from the academic year 2022-23 onwards, according to reports.
CBSE had announced two sets of board exams for students for the 2021-22 academic year in order to prepare for any “unprecedented situation” that could arise due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The decision was taken after the board had to cancel the exams for 2020-21 academic year due to the rise in the number of coronavirus cases. Class 10 and 12 students were evaluated based on the scores of previous exams, practical exams and internal assessments.
Speculation was rife that CBSE would continue the two-term exam practice in the future as well as it has been recommended in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
However, after receiving representations from schools, the board has decided to restore the single-exam pattern, Indian Express reported quoting a senior official in the Ministry of Education.
“CBSE never announced that the two-term exam format will be continued henceforth. It was a one-time formula,” the official said.
“Conducting two sets of examinations is very challenging as schools have to stop all other activities at the time of board examination,” Jyoti Arora, principal of Mount Abu Public School in Delhi, as saying.
In terms of syllabus rationalisation, CBSE will continue to follow its policy over the last two years to reduce the syllabus by 30 percent. Announcement on the syllabus will be made only after the NCERT provides the details to the ministry.