Cancellation of class 12 exams may leave Karnataka students in lurch

The decision by the CBSE and ICSE boards to cancel class 12 examinations has mounted pressure on the Karnataka government to announce the decision about II PU examinations soon.

Experts and stakeholders feel that the decision to cancel the examinations will impact the admission process, where the state board students will be deprived of seats at the undergraduate admission level.

Even though the Centre’s decision will not make any impact on admissions to professional courses through JEE and NEET, those who aspire for engineering and other courses through Karnataka Common Entrance Test (KCET) will find it difficult to get through as the II PU/class 12 marks will be considered here.

Also read: Karnataka govt mulls 'one-day' PUC exam in July/August

For admission to professional courses through KCET, the 45% eligibility in PUC (PCMB) is a must and 50% of PUC and KCET marks will be considered while announcing the merit list.

“Online classes were not available for a majority of students from rural parts. Even if the state decides to do away with the II PU exams and promote students based on their previous performance, that would be difficult for lakhs of students as they have missed preparatory and mid-term exams,” said the principal of a private unaided college in Bengaluru.

Even I PU was not easy for this batch of II PU students, as they were unable to perform well due to the pandemic and due to lack of access to online classes.

“If the government decides to cancel II PU exams, it cannot consider I PU performance to decide the promotion as many students were unable to perform well due to the pandemic. This would cause real injustice to students,” said an official from the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA).

Also read: SC asks CBSE, CISCE to place on record objective parameters for assessment of Class 12 marks in two weeks

Also, students will have tough competition in admission to other courses like BA, BSc and BCom. “As the other boards have already announced the cancellation of examinations, those students will get admissions to general degree courses. The state board students will have to compete for the leftover seats,” said the principal of a government PU college in Bengaluru.

There is demand from various stakeholders, including private PUC colleges and schools, to conduct the examination. However, students and parents have mixed opinion.

Academician V P Niranjanaradhya said, “The PUE department should look for new options and not look at cancelling examinations. It should concentrate on rectifying the flaws in the system. In the interest of students and parents, it should announce a decision about examinations soon.”