Elections force change in board exam dates

The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) has decided to reschedule the board exams in view of the announcement of the Assembly elections in five states.

The council will notify the revised dates soon.

“We will reschedule the dates of the examinations so that it does not clash with the elections,” Gerry Arathoon, chief executive officer, CISCE, told DH.

The rescheduling of the exams will be done for all CISCE schools in the country “to maintain uniformity”, Arathoon said,  when asked if the dates would be revised only for the students appearing from the poll-bound states.

The CISCE had notified the dates of the Classes X and XII board examinations on December 1. According to the schedule, the Indian School Certificate (ISC) examinations for Class XII were scheduled to start with practicals for Physics, Paper-2, on February 6 and conclude with the Sociology paper on April 5. The Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) exams for Class X were set to start from February 27 with Paper-1 of the English language and conclude on March 31 with elective paper of Commercial Studies. 

The Election Commission, however, on Wednesday announced the dates for polls in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur, prompting the council to consider rescheduling the exams.