CBSE Board Exams 2021: How States Are Preparing For Upcoming Exams
After the CBSE board exams dates were announced, several states have decided to reopen schools to complete the syllabus and hold practical classes. They are also preparing for pre-board exams.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) board examinations 2021 will be significantly different from the 2020 and earlier versions. For one, the Class 10 and Class 12 CBSE exams 2021 will be held in May, instead of February and March. Apart from the shift in the exam calendar, there are other changes including reduction in the CBSE syllabus, changes in exam pattern and marking scheme. These were introduced to compensate for the classes and teaching time lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the CBSE board exams 2021 (theoretical) are set to begin on May 4, there is no definite CBSE date sheet for the practical exams. The Union Government has asked schools to conduct practical exams from March 1 till the beginning of the theory papers. To ensure smooth conduct of the examinations, state education departments have been framing policies to allow for offline CBSE board exams 2021, to be conducted in line with their COVID-19 protocols.
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Soon after the CBSE board exams dates were announced, several states decided to reopen their schools to conduct physical classes for students and complete the syllabus and hold practical classes. Even though the CBSE board exam syllabus has been reduced by 30 percent, practical classes are still a part of it. Several state boards have also reduced their syllabi for the 2021 exams.
States reopening schools
Some states have already reopened their schools and started physical classes. Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Puducherry, Kerala, Karnataka and Assam have reopened a majority of state-owned schools especially for students of Classes 10 and 12 who will be writing board exams in 2021. Tamil Nadu and Mumbai's local bodies have announced they will reopen schools after discussing it with parents and teachers. Madhya Pradesh had earlier cancelled the winter vacations for schools from December 26 to December 31, 2020 to prepare students for CBSE board exams and final exams.
Pre-board exams
State board and CBSE board exams are typically preceded by internal school exams called the "pre-board exams". These are meant to prepare students to write the public board exams. While some schools have already conducted pre-board exams others have still not released the pre-board exam date sheets. The pre-board exams are being conducted both online and offline. In Delhi, where schools are still shut, authorities are restricting themselves to holding exams online. Those in Gurgaon, Ghaziabad and Noida are opting for exams in blended mode.
Pallavi Upadhyaya, Principal, DPS-RNE Ghaziabad told PTI that the school has conducted online pre-board exams but is also planning another round in January for which students have to go to school. Rashmi Biswal, principal, DAV Public School, Pushpanjali Vihar, told PTI: "Most board exams are of 80 marks so we want to give students the practice of writing the whole exam and to make the experience simpler for them we have decided to divide each paper into two parts, so students can write and submit both parts in one day with an interval in between, or on two separate days”.
Maharashtra SSC Board Pune, WBCHSE
West Bengal has done away with the final examinations for Classes 6 to 9 and granted automatic promotion to these students. As per the date sheets released by the state government, the Class 10 WBBSE (Madhyamik) exams begin on June 1 and the Class 12 WBCHSE (Uccha Madhyamik) exams begin on June 15. Bihar postponed its state board exams for Class 12 to February 1. Assam and Odisha will hold their state board exams from May onward. Maharashtra is expecting to conduct the Class 10 SSC board and Class 12 HSC exams in May.
Sample papers, marking scheme
CBSE had released sample papers for Class 10 and Class 12 along with the marking scheme to help students prepare for the exams. The states have also released separate sample papers for their respective state board exams. Odisha, and Bihar released their sample papers on the official website.
