CBSE, CISCE Board Exams 2022 LIVE Updates: SC Adjourns Hearing of Plea Seeking Hybrid Exams to Nov 18

While students had asked for immediate directions, the matter has been adjourned. Now the Supreme Court will hear the matter on November 18. The CBSE 12th minor exams are beginning tomorrow and will be held as per the direction released by the board in the meantime. Major exams will be held from November 30. Most students have been allotted their own schools.

Here are a few key pointers that students need to know before appearing the exams:

— Exam to be held on 50% of the syllabus

— Exam to be in MCQ-only format

— Exam to be held for 90 minutes

— Reading time increased to 20 minutes

— Exam to begin from 11:30 instead of 10:30 am

— Practicals/ internals to constitute 50% of total marks

— Practical marks to be uploaded at the official portal by December 23.

— No external examiner will be appointed in term-1 exams by CBSE for practicals

— Schools will use their own answer book for practical

— CBSE will appoint an observer in each exam centre

— For every 500 students there will be one observer

— For more than 500 students, CBSE will send 2 observers

— CBSE will also appoint city coordinators at all exam centres

— CBSE will provide customized OMR sheets online to exam centres

— A copy of the OMR sheet will be provided to schools for practice

— Separate sheet to be given for rough work

— A box will also be given on the OMR sheet beside the question wherein candidates will have to write their response

Supreme Court will soon hear the plea filed by students seeking the option of both online and offline exams for CBSE and CISCE. The matter will be heard by a Bench comprising Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice CT Ravi Kumar. It is likely to come up by lunch, however, no final dates and time is known yet.

While the petition in court is filled by a group of six students, a large section of stakeholders have taken to Twitter, Facebook, Change.org and other platforms to voice their concerns. Students demand ‘vaccination before examination’ as well. Considering the Indian government is yet to roll out vaccines for teens, students demand better safety norms before exams are held in physical mode or the option of taking exams online for those who can.

CBSE, CISCE have changed their exam patterns this year. The new exam will be in the multiple-choice questions (MCQs) format meaning students will be given OMR sheets to mark their answers, unlike the previous years when they had to write the entire responses.

This year for both CBSE and CISCE exams will be held twice. The term 1 exams will be held in multiple-choice (MCQ) mode while the term 2 exams will be subjective exams.Since there will be two exams, candidates demadn term 1 to be held in hybrid mode and those who wish to take exams in online or offline mode can do so.

CISCE has taken a u-turn on board exams. Earlier, it was to begin exams from November 15 and had offered the option of both online and offline exams to students, however, the date sheet was later revised and the mode of the exam was made online only. The decision to hold offline exams came after CBSE students demanded the option of having online and offline exams like CISCE. The number of students who appear for CISCE is lesser than that of CBSE board exams.

The petition is being heard only days ahead of final exams. While the CBSE class 10 exams for major subjects will commence from November 30, the 12th exams will start from December 1. While the ICSE exams will be from November 29 and the ISC from November. However, the CBSE exams for the minor subjects will begin on Tuesday, November 16.

Claiming that the Covid-19 cases are on a rise once again, students claim that board exams could prove to be a ‘super spreader’ event and the plea stated that “At any rate, such continuous exposure through offline exams sharply increases the risk of infection to Covid 19 rendering the impugned action as arbitrary and in violation of Right to Health.”

Since March 2020, most of the classes have been held in online mode even for some time when classes reopened in physical mode, not all students were allowed to attend physical classes. Students last year too demanded online exams for online classes.

The plea is filed by advocate Sumanth Nookala who will be representing students in the court today. The hearing is likely to begin at 11 am today. The petitioners demand that since there has been a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases again in the country, the students be provided with the option of appearing for the exams in online mode.

A petition filed by a group of six students will be heard soon in the Supreme Court. The petition seeks giving students options to take their class 10 and class 12 board exams in either online or offline mode. The CBSE major subjects exams will begin tomorrow.