Cannot conduct board exams twice a year under current schedule: CBSE

The National Curriculum Framework 2023 released in line with the National Education Policy 2020 in August recommended that students be allowed to take board examinations on at least two occasions during any given school year, with only the best scores being retained

Conducting board exams for classes 10 and 12 twice a year was not possible under current academic schedule, the Central Board of Secondary Education has told the education ministry, according to officials familiar with the development.

The board presented the current scenario to the ministry during a programme on the National Curriculum Framework 2023 on June 25 at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, board and ministry officials said, declining to be named. The event was attended by hundreds of principals of schools affiliated with the CBSE.

The framework released in line with the National Education Policy 2020 in August recommended that students be allowed to take board examinations on at least two occasions during any given school year, with only the best scores being retained.

The ministry had asked the board to prepare a road map for conducting board exams twice a year, HT reported on April 27. Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan in February said the plan was likely to be implemented from the 2025-26 academic year on an optional basis.

“More that 150 steps” were required to conduct board exams of classes 10 and 12 in the current system, according to the board’s presentation seen by HT. The process involves a minimum 310 days, starting from filling of list of candidates, centre notifications, release of roll numbers, conduct of practicals, theory exams, result declaration, verification and revaluation, it said. At least 55 days are required to conduct the two exams, the board said.

The board said it has schools spread across the world and therefore “conducting board examinations in two shifts in the current system and policies is not possible”, said an official present in the meeting.

While main examinations are conducted between February and April and results are declared in May, the supplementary exams are conducted between July and August, with results declared at the end of August. In total, examinations in 88 subjects are conducted for class 10 and 121 subjects for class 12, the board said.

“The issue of the date of competitive exams, holidays, and gaps between exams, are also taken into consideration at the time of the preparation of the date sheets… besides the timing of the conduct of practical exams are different for winter bound and summer bound schools,” the board said in its presentation.

Besides, the CBSE informed that over 4,000 question papers and 200,000 questions are prepared for the board exams, and about 2.5 crore answer sheets are evaluated. “Teachers remained involved in board examination work for about 55 days and in evaluation for about 15-20 days. Their services are also used for other activities, including verification,” the board said.

It was the first of many consultations for the implementation of the framework recommendations where stakeholders expressed their opinions, a ministry official said. “The NCF recommendation of introducing two board exams is to reduce the load and pressure of students. It is to give them another opportunity to improve their performance if they want. We will work out together on how to implement the NCF recommendations. The ministry has also asked the principals of CBSE schools to send their suggestions as well,” the official said.

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