JOIN USCancelling board exams: An obvious decision delayed too long
The decision to cancel the holding of the CBSE and ISC Class 12 examinations was not unexpected. It was the most viable option available. The proposal has been discussed for months and has even been examined in the Supreme Court.
Some state boards have already announced their decision to cancel their exams and others are bound to follow suit. Bringing lakhs of students to the examination halls for many days would have been an unwise proposition now. Protocols and precautions would not have worked, and the exams would have aggravated the pandemic situation. Students and their parents were worried about it and the prolonged uncertainty over the matter had added to their anxiety. Now that a decision has been made, there would be a sense of relief.
However, the roadmap from here on is not clear. The Class 12 or Plus 2 examination is the gateway examination for students to graduation courses in all subjects. In the absence of marks and credits from that examination, criteria need to be formulated to judge students on their relative merits for admission. Some institutions may hold entrance tests, which may also present problems.
It has been stated by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) that “steps will be taken to compile the results of Class XII students as per well-defined objective criteria in a time-bound manner.” The CBSE has also said that it would come up with “objective criteria” for evaluating students. It has been proposed that internal assessment of students during Class 12 may be used to judge merit.
There is also a proposal that students’ performance from Class 9 to 12 should be taken into consideration. It is necessary to ensure that there is no rat race for admissions based on cut-off marks that are fractions short of 100%. The fairest and most transparent system will have to be evolved, though it is likely that there will be some complaints. For the long term, the crisis gives an opportunity to evolve a system that looks beyond marks in a single exam to judge a student.
It is unfortunate, however, that the decision was made so late and that too after the matter was taken to the Supreme Court and it had to be the Prime Minister himself to take the call. It was clear many weeks, if not months, ago that holding these exams would be difficult.
All the boards and the education ministry had enough time to consider the issue and to take a decision. Different plans for different scenarios could have been chalked out, and a difficult matter like formulation of criteria to judge the merit of students should not have been left to be decided in a hurry in the last minute.