COVID: ICSE cancels class 10 boards exams, withdraws option for students to appear later

The ICSE class 10 board exams have been canceled in view of the worsening COVID-19 situation and the option for students to appear later has been withdrawn, board secretary Gerry Arathoon said on Tuesday.

Last week, the board had postponed both class 10 and 12 exams.

The Council for The Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) had announced that class 10 students will get an option to either write the exams later or get evaluated on the basis of alternative criteria.

”Given the present worsening situation of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, the CICSE has decided to cancel the class 10 examination. The option for students announced earlier stands withdrawn. The safety and wellbeing of our students and teaching faculty are of topmost priority and paramount importance,” said Arathoon, Secretary and Chief Executive of the CISCE.

”We are committed to devise a fair and unbiased criterion for declaring class 10 results. The criterion, as well as the date of declaration of results, will be announced later,” he said.

The CISCE has advised schools to begin the admission process for class 11, if not already started. ”In addition, schools should prepare a schedule to begin online classes for the class 11 students at the earliest,” Arathoon said, adding that the status of class 12 exams remains the same.

Last week, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had canceled its class 10 board exams and deferred the class 12 board exams. Several state boards have postponed or canceled their exams too.

The CISCE exams last year had been canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Students were evaluated based on internal assessment.

The education board had told the Supreme Court last year that it would not provide students with an option of re-examination and they will solely be evaluated on the basis of internal assessment.

According to the scheme, candidates were assessed based on the best three percentage marks obtained in subjects for which board exams were conducted and the marks of their internal assessment as well as project work were taken into account. India’s total tally of COVID-19 cases climbed to 1,53,21,089 with 2,59,170 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day, while active cases surpassed the 20-lakh mark, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Tuesday.

The death toll increased to 1,80,530 with a record 1,761 new fatalities, data updated at 8 am showed.

Registering a steady increase for the 41st day in a row, the active cases increased to 20,31,977, comprising 13.26 percent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has dropped to 85.56 percent.