10 lakh students appear on first day of CBSE exams

The class 12 board examinations of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) began on Tuesday. Over 10 lakh students appeared nationwide for the first exam of English on Tuesday.

Parents accompanied children to their examination centres and some of them even waited outside anxiously till the exam was over.

Some students offered prayers before entering the examination hall. “My parents specially took me to a temple today in the morning to seek God’s blessings before the exam,” said Aditya.

Students revised notes and discussed important points with friends till the last moment. After the exam, many appeared confident of scoring good marks in the first paper. 

“The paper was not tough. It went better than my expectations. I was stressed before the exam but after the first paper, I am a little relaxed,” Aditya, a student of Commerce, said.

Kunwar Lamba said, “The paper was set from the syllabus itself. It went very good”. Manisha described the first exam as “awesome” and said, “I had practised writing lengthy answers before the exam so I was able to complete the paper on time and attempt all the questions.”

However, Commerce
students complained that there is no time for them to relax after the first exam as the second paper is scheduled to be held on Thursday, with an interval of one day. 

“I will sleep immediately after reaching home and then start preparing for the next exam. There are 13 days between the second and third exam and just one between the first and second,” said Aditya.

The class 12 exams, which are often seen as a deciding factor in the careers of lakhs of students, will end on April 22.

CBSE has also started counselling for students and parents to help them overcome exam-related stress. This year 76 principals, trained counsellors, and psychologists are participating in tele-counselling.