CBSE students to get extended vacations

The decision was taken so that teachers get sufficient time to correct answer-sheets of Class 10 and 12 board exams. Earlier, schools would re-open on April 1 while the assessment process was ongoing.

Students of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will enjoy a longer summer break next year. The board has asked schools to begin their upcoming academic year, 15 days later than usual. Schools have been asked to re-open from April 15, instead of April 1, which was the current trend.

The decision was taken so that teachers get sufficient time to correct answer-sheets of Class 10 and 12 board exams. Earlier, schools would re-open on April 1 while the assessment process was ongoing.

But, the board found that this was troubling teachers as they would juggle their lectures with assessments. The vacation will start after the last examination is over.

“Some schools fail to relieve their teachers for evaluation even after the start of the new academic year. This is an undesirable practice,” read the circular that was issued to the schools.

Mumbai school principals have welcomed the decision. “It was difficult for us to re-open at the beginning of April as most of the teachers were occupied with paper-correction which goes on till April-end,” said Deepshikha Srivastava, principal, Rajhans Vidyalaya, Andheri.

However, schools are worried that starting the academic year late will affect Class 10 and Class 12 students.

“Preparations of students appearing for the board exams usually begin in April itself. It gives them a head start,” said Srivastava. “So we might have to hold special classes for students appearing for board exams.”

Rescheduling the academic year to give teachers time for assessment was necessary because teachers are still getting used to the new form of assessment, said a principal from Navi Mumbai. The Central board had begun online assessment of the board exam papers from this year.

Every city has a paper checking centre where teachers correct the board exam papers online. The papers are scanned and teachers have to directly feed in the marks into the system. “But, it still takes a long time for the papers to be uploaded so we cannot predict how much time will go in assessment,” she said.