UAE: CBSE announces improvement exams for Grades X and XII

Dubai - Grade 10 exams will be held from August 25 to September 8, Grade 12 exams will take place from August 25 to September 16.

CBSE-affiliated schools in the UAE have been asked to submit the list of classes X and XII candidates (LOC) taking the optional and compartment examinations (offline) this year.

India’s Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had recently stated that the Optional and Compartment Examinations for the board classes will be held from August 25.

While Grade 10 exams will be held from August 25 to September 8, Grade 12 students will take their exams from August 25 to September 16.

The Board clarified that, “only those candidates who are already registered with the board will be able to appear in these examinations, and no fresh applications will be accepted.”

The circular sent to school principals, further states that “schools shall have to submit LOC in respect of all candidates who were regular students of their school during session 2020-21. It would be the responsibility of the school to submit the LOC within the stipulated schedule. No request for extension of date will be considered due to any reason.”

Schools in the UAE said they have notified students about these examinations. “We have communicated about the option and the process to the students and parents. So far we have not got any confirmations on this. The details of the registration process have also been explained in a clear manner. The date sheet and the restrictions at exam centers due to Covid are also clear,” said Bushra Mansoor, Head of Secondary School, Springdales school Dubai.

Muhammad Ali Kottakkulam, Principal, Gulf Indian High School Dubai, said, “This is also in continuation with the tabulation policy for Grades 10 and 12, 2021 and is an effort to provide justice to all. Regular students falling in four categories can apply. Category A includes candidates who are not satisfied with the recent results declared by CBSE based on the tabulation policy, subject to the condition that the marks secured by them in the examination will be considered final. Others include those who are not able to meet the qualifying criteria and placed in the compartment category; candidates whose results could not be prepared on the basis of the tabulation policy; and the sixth subject cases who have passed in five subjects and need to clear the sixth one.”

In another circular the board mentions, failed candidates of 2021, improvement of performance cases registered for main examination 2021 as private candidates; candidates registered under additional subject category for main examination 2021 as private candidates; second-chance compartment candidates of 2019 and 2020; and private special cases are some of the categories eligible to appear in this examination.

Kottakkulam said: “A separate circular has also been released regarding the compartmental examinations of private candidates. Our school has no compartmental students as we are always in the category of schools with 100 per cent pass result.”

The exams for regular candidates were cancelled this year due to a sudden spike in Covid-19 cases in India and the final results were announced following an alternative assessment scheme.

Therefore, the circular also points out marks scored in the later examination will be considered as final.

Annie Mathew, Principal of Gulf Model School, Dubai, says: “The CBSE had given an assurance that any student who is not satisfied with the marks awarded as per the policy will be given an option to write the exam and it’s commendable that CBSE has implemented that promptly. The compartment exams could not be conducted by CBSE last year owing to Covid, and those eligible students will get an opportunity this year. The exams will be conducted physically at designated centres in India and abroad following all Covid-19 protocols.”

• UAE