The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) on Friday announced that the ICSE Class 10 and ISC Class 12 board examinations, scheduled to be held from May 4, 2021, have been postponed in light of the rising COVID-19 cases. “The Covid situation will be closely monitored and the deferment of the ICSE & ISC 2021 Examinations will be reviewed and a final decision on the conduct of the board examinations will be taken by the 1st week of June 2021,” CISCE said. While Class 12 board exams will be held on a later date, Class 10 students have been given the choice to write the exam on the day Class 12 boards are held, or not write the exams altogether.
The full statement said, “In the light of the nationwide surge in Covid 19 cases, the CISCE has decided to defer the ICSE (Class X) and ISC (Class XII) board examinations scheduled to be held from May 4, 2021. The Covid situation will be closely monitored and the deferment of the ICSE & ISC 2021 Examinations will be reviewed and a final decision on the conduct of the board examinations will be taken by the 1st week of June 2021. While the ISC (Class XII) examination will be conducted at a later date, the candidates for the ICSE (Class X) examination will be given the following options a) to write the offline examination, along with the Class XII candidates, or b) not to write the offline examination."
Two days ago, CBSE had cancelled the Class 10 Board exams and said that it will prepare an objective criterion, and for any candidate who is not satisfied with the marks allocated to him/her will be given an opportunity to write the exam as and when the conditions are conducive to hold exams. For Class 12 students, the CBSE postponed the exams and said that the situation will be reviewed on June 1, 2021 and details will be shared subsequently. A notice of at least 15 days will be given before the new date for the start of the Class 12 Board examinations is announced, the government said.
The decision on CBSE board exams came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal and other top officials earlier this week. Ahead of the meeting, several politicians had called for cancellation of the exams amid a massive surge of COVID-19 cases across the country.