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Opinions divided over holding UP Board exams in just 16 days
While the U.P. secondary education minister says it will help start the new session on time, former CBSE chairman Ashok Ganguly opines the session can start in April irrespective of whether the board exam is completed before that or not
A day after the dates of UP Board high school and intermediate exams 2023 were announced, educationists expressed different opinions over wrapping up the exams in just 16 days even as the secondary education minister said it will help start new academic session on time.
The UP Board high school and intermediate exams 2023 will begin from February 16. The high school exams will conclude on March 3 while those of intermediate will conclude on March 4. The board is in a hurry to wrap up the exam in the shortest possible time period ahead of CBSE or CISCE boards.
State secondary education minister (independent charge) Gulab Devi on Tuesday said, “The decision to finish the exam in early March before Holi will help start the new session on time.” Educationists, however, have divided opinion on the issue.
Former CBSE chairman Ashok Ganguly, however, is not happy about it. “The decision to conduct the UP Board’s exam this year earlier and also finish earlier does not seem very logical. The reason being given that they want to start the next academic session in time. There is no correlation between conduct of board examination and start of the new academic session because these are two different dimensions of curriculum activity,” he said.
“The current academic session was full of turmoil and uncertainty. A minimum period of instructional hours is required to enable the students to appear in the board exam confidently. 1200 hours of instructional hours is required for class 12 students before appearing in board exam which is not possible in 150 teaching days- particularly when the academic session is disrupted due to pandemic and exam is being preponed to February,” he added.
Ganguly said, “In the good old days, we used to have the board exam in March as a ritual and that made the academic activities continue till the end of February.”
“The academic session can start in April irrespective of whether the board exam is completed before that or not. Moreover, the duration of the board exam can be curtailed to finish it within a month . But the teaching learning must not be rushed or curtailed. Otherwise, the students will be at the receiving end and they will not find themselves confident enough to appear in the exam,” he added.
Career counsellor Amrita Dass, however, is of the view that shorter duration of exam is good for the students. This year the CBSE Class 10 and Class 12 exam will begin on February 15 and will end on March 21 and April 5 respectively. The ICSE (Class 10) examinations will begin on February 27 and will end on March 29. ISC (Class 12) examination will commence from February 13 and will finish on March 31.
