Covid: CBSE yet to take a call on cancellation of Class 12 exams

Dubai - UAE schools wait for reply to the request made to the CBSE to allow the examinations to be held

India’s Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) of India has not taken any decision yet on whether it will cancel Class XII board examination, according to heads of Indian schools in the UAE.

“They probably will take a call on this around June 15, not before that,” said Vandana Marwaha, principal of Delhi Public School, Sharjah.

The decision will impact millions of students studying in over 21,400 CBSE schools in India and abroad, including the UAE, which has 78 schools affiliated to the Indian curriculum. Meanwhile in the UAE, heads of several Indian schools have written to the board to allow examinations to be held here. They are, however, yet to hear any decision on this front, Khaleej Times has learnt.

In India, however, a number of parents and students in India have been demanding cancellation of examinations in view of health challenges posed by the pandemic in the country.

Recently, the CBSE had cancelled board examinations for Class 10 students to protect the students, parents, teachers and school staff from infection risk.

“We do know things are quite difficult in India at the moment and to get so many children come together to give the exam might be difficult. But let’s see if there will have another system for the students in the UAE,” said Rashmi Nandkeolyar, Dubai Private School, Dubai.

“The CBSE is quite dynamic about their solutions. For example, they came up with a very unique solution on how to award Grade 10 marks. Probably their think tank will come up with similar solution that would be acceptable to all. And then the other thing is universities are accepting students on their pre-board marks, school performance. So, it won’t matter so much,” adds Nandkeolyar.

In case the examinations are cancelled, schools in the UAE are expecting a detailed procedure to be published by the CBSE on how to grade the students, just like the one sent right after cancellation of grade 10 examinations were announced.

“The CBSE had informed of a proper procedure on how marks should be tabulated, how predictable scoring works. It was a fair policy, and we could expect something similar this time around too,” said Zubair Ahmad, head, HR and Administration, Springdales School, Dubai. —suneeti@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE