CBSE Class X, XII board exams from March 9

The Central Board of Secondary Education will conduct the board examinations for its Class X and Class XII students from March 9.

Examinations for Class X will conclude on April 10 with the Home Science paper and examinations for Class XII students will end on April 29 with the Philosophy paper and seven electives, according to the dates announced by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) here on Monday.

Sources said the board cancelled its original schedule and revised the examination dates in view of the Assembly polls to be held in five states between February 4 and March 8.

“The board has given careful consideration to the situation before postponing the examinations by a week, which will now allow the students to get more time for the preparation and ensure uninterrupted sequence of examinations,” the CBSE said in a statement.

The CBSE will start the board examinations for both classes X and XII a day after the polling in all the five states ends. As the election results will be announced on March 11, the board has not scheduled any examination for that day.

Many parents and students, however, feel those taking the Joint Entrance Examination-Main may face some difficulty as the nationwide test for admission to the Centrally funded technical institutes is scheduled to be held on April 2.

“The board has made all possible efforts to maintain reasonable time gap between the major papers and also ensured that the students appearing for the Joint Entrance Examination and the upcoming National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) complete the CBSE examinations ahead of these entrance examinations,” CBSE spokesperson Rama Sharma said.

The NEET will be held on May 7 for admission to the undergraduate medical and dental programme.

“The results of the board examinations will be declared on time as the board has adopted several IT initiatives which will aid in faster processing of the results,” Sharma said.

According to the CBSE, more than 16.67 students have been registered for the Class X board examinations this year, compared with 14.91 lakh students last year. The number of CBSE school students registered for the Class XII board examinations this year has gone up close to 10.99 lakh. Last year, about 10.65 lakh students had registered for the Class XII board examinations. More Class X students will take the CBSE board examinations this year, mainly those willing to move out of the CBSE schools to get admission in senior secondary classes in schools affiliated to other examination boards. According to statistics, about 8.84 lakh students ((53.05 %) of a total of about 16.67 lakh have opted for board-based examinations to be held by the CBSE.