Students, teachers welcome end of uncertainty; CM says ‘big relief’

Students, teachers and parents on Tuesday welcomed the government’s decision to cancel the CBSE Class 12 board exams in view of the Covid-19 pandemic and demanded that the board should now come up with an “objective” criteria to evaluate students.

The Centre on Tuesday cancelled CBSE Class 12 exams after discussions at a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said it is a “big relief” that the Class 12 board exams have been cancelled. “I am glad 12th exams have been cancelled. All of us were very worried about the health of our children. A big relief,” Kejriwal tweeted.

Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, who had said that exams must not be conducted without vaccinating all students and teachers, tweeted, “I am happy that the never-ending Class 12 for 1.5 crore students of the country will finally end.”

Darshan Pal, a Class 12 student at Bluebells School International, said that the exam cancellation brought “big relief” to him and his parents. “My parents were anxious and worried about my safety. The decision is in the wider interest of students and it would prevent turning schools into Covid hotspots. However, the CBSE should formulate a criterion that is suitable for all students. Considering classes 9 to 12 while for assessment would not be fair since the subjects we studied in classes 9 and 10 were very different from what we opted in classes 11 and 12. CBSE should give more importance to Class 12 internals only,” he said.

Pratham Agarwal, 18, a Class 12 student who has got admission to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and has to submit his Class 12 results by August 1, said, “I am really happy with the decision to cancel the exams. The board now should speed up the assessment process and give us our results at the earliest.”

Parents also welcomed the decision. Aprajita Gautam, whose daughter was going to appear for Class 12 boards this year, said parents were not in favour of children going for their exams. “We recently lost family members to Covid-19 and all of us were infected with Covid-19. My child could not have appeared for her papers in such a scenario. Every house has been affected and parents are scared and the decision will bring them some comfort.”

Principals said that schools are now waiting for directions from the board on the compilation of results. Divya Bhatia, principal of Amity International School in Saket, said, “Parents have been calling us asking questions over college admissions. Those students who were going to pursue their higher education in other countries are also relieved because the results are expected to come out sooner than it would have if exams had taken place.”

Vishnu Karthik, CEO, The Heritage Schools, said the decision brought clarity for both students and parents. “The challenge now is for CBSE to arrive at alternative criteria to determine Class 12 marks. Any delay or any confusion on the new grading criteria will lead to more confusion and stress among students. Clear directions should also be provided to universities to modify their admissions criteria to ensure fair play.”