Students heave a sigh of relief as board cancels Class 10 exams

CBSE officials said the performance of class 10 students may be evaluated on the basis of their internal and practical exams

Principals, parents and students on Wednesday welcomed the Centre’s decision to cancel the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Class 10 exams in view of the fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.

Several Class 10 students said they are relieved with the cancellation of exams.

The decision was announced by the Union education ministry following a high-level meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday. The Class 10 students will now be evaluated using an alternative assessment method.

While CBSE did not immediately reveal the expected evaluation criteria, board officials said that “it might be done on the basis of internal and practical exams of students”. The board has also announced that if any candidate is not satisfied with the marks allocated, they will be given an opportunity to take an exam as and when the conditions improve.

Alka Kapur, principal of Modern Public School in Shalimar Bagh, said: “It won’t be an issue to evaluate Class 10 students on the basis of internal exams, pre-boards, and practicals. In previous years also, we followed the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) system in Class 10, and we have all the criteria in place. We can also do an aptitude test to allot streams to students in Class 11. Under the current circumstances, evaluating students on the basis of internal marks will be less problematic than exposing them to the virus.”

Between 2010 and 2017, CBSE followed the CCE system under which students’ marks were replaced by grades which were evaluated through a series of curricular and extra-curricular evaluations along with academics. The external board exam was optional during this period. CBSE had reintroduced compulsory board exams in class 10 in 2018.

Jyoti Arora, principal of Mount Abu Public School said: “We have already completed all class 10 internal exams and practical exams. We had two pre-board exams as well that can be included while assessing the students.”

Several Class 10 students said they are relieved with the cancellation of exams. Vedant Gidra, a Class 10 student at a private school in west Delhi, said: “My parents were really worried about my safety amid the rising Covid-19 cases in Delhi. We are thankful to the government for cancelling our exams and keeping our safety a priority. Most of my friends and I do not have any issue if we get evaluated on the basis of our internals.”

Kushagra Sharma, the father of a Class 10 student of Delhi Public School in Vasant Kunj, said: “We are grateful that the government put the safety and security of our kids on top priority while taking this decision. We were really worried about the safety of my daughter. We have elderly people at home and her going to the examination centre would have compromised their safety as well.”