Coronavirus: CBSE postpones class 10, 12 board exams till March 31

Remaining board examinations for Classes X and XII of the CBSE schools, the nation-wide JEE-Main entrance test for engineering colleges and the NIOS board examinations have been postponed by the respective bodies in view of the novel coronavirus spread.

All these examinations will be rescheduled by March 31 by the respective examination conducting bodies after “reassessment” of the situations.

The Central Board of Secondary Examination (CBSE), National Testing Agency (NTA) and the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) announced their decision on Wednesday evening.

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“All schools may ensure that this information is disseminated to all concerned students from their respective schools. Rescheduled dates will be communicated by the board to all its stakeholders by March 31 after the reassessment of the situation,” CBSE Secretary Anurag Tripathi said.

This came after the Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry secretary Amit Khare issued an advisory to them.

Khare asked the universities to consider rescheduling examinations after March 31, saying that while maintenance of academic calendars and examination schedule is important, equally important is the safety and security of the students, teachers and parents.

“All educational institutions and examination boards are requested to main regular communication with the students and the teachers through electronic means and keep them fully informed so that there is no anxiety amongst the students, teachers and parents,” he said.

While the Class X board examinations of the CBSE schools were scheduled to conclude on March 20 with Computer Science paper, the board examinations of the Class XII students of CBSE schools were scheduled to end on March 31 with Sociology paper.

The NTA, scheduled to hold Joint Entrance Examination (JEE)-main from April 5 to 11, postponed the examinations.

The CBSE also suspended all ongoing board examination-related evaluation work up to March 31. “All centre nodal supervisors may ensure rescheduling of the evaluation work from April 1 unless otherwise informed by the board,” the CBSE secretary told them in a communique.

Meanwhile, the Council for The Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) issued revised procedures to be followed for evaluation of the answer scripts, allowing the examiners to mark the answer scripts at their own residences.