This will be a zero-exam year as both class 10 and class 12 exams have been canceled this year. The decision to not hold any exams was taken after months of online protests by students and deliberations and meetings between stakeholders including education ministers and secretaries of states as well as high profile ministers including I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. The decision was announced after a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
While making the announcement, Modi said, “Health and safety of our students are of utmost importance and there would be no compromise on this aspect”. He added, “Anxiety among students, parents, and teachers, which must be put to an end.”
Now, the next step will be to declare the result. While the union government has said that CBSE will release a “well-defined objective criteria” to declare the result “in a time-bound manner”. Reports suggest that schools have been asked to curate details on the marks obtained by students in classes 9, 10, and 11. It is very likely that the class 12 result will include the performance of a student in the past three years. A final notification in this regard is expected soon.
This year, class 10 exams could also not be held due to the coronavirus. For class 10, CBSE had asked schools to assess students based on pre-boards, mid-terms, and periodic tests. The maximum weightage was given to pre-boards. CBSE had also facilitated telephonic exams for students who could not appear for any exams throughout the year. This facility was offered considering students from underprivileged areas. A similar facility is expected for class 12 students too.
The decision by CBSE is expected to be followed up by other state boards as well. just like in the case of class 10 results. Mamata Sharma who was fighting the case against holding of class 12 exams has said that in the next hearing, she will raise the issue of uniformity of assessment across state boards. Further, a fresh petition has been filed in Supreme Court seeking cancelation of NIOS and state board exams.