The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has proposed that it will conduct the Class 12 Board examination only for major subjects. The Board consists of 174 subjects to Class 12 students, of which about 20 are considered major by the CBSE.

These include: Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Biology, History, Political Science, Business Studies, Accountancy, Geography, Economics, and English. 

A CBSE student takes a minimum of five and a maximum of six subjects. Of these, usually four are major subjects. Sources claimed that the CBSE has proposed two options to the Education Ministry for conducting the Board examinations for the major subjects.

The first option would require one month of pre-exam activities and two months for conducting the exams and declaration of results and another 45 days for compartment exams.  

Education Minister Ramesh Pohkriyal, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar and Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani are expected to attend. 

Under the first option, the national board has suggested that examinations for the major subjects be held in the “existing format” and at designated examination centers and marks for minor subjects can be calculated based on the performance in the major subjects. The first option would require one month of pre-exam activities and two months for conducting the exams and declaration of results and another 45 days for compartment exams. 

This option can only be executed if the Board has a window of three months. 

Under the second format, the CBSE has proposed that Class 12 students sit for the major subject exams in their own schools (read self-centers), instead of designated centers, this shall will take only 45 days and also each examination should be of one-and-a half hours instead of three hours. 

The question papers should have only objective and short-answer questions. In this scenario, a Class 12 student will appear for one language and three elective (read major) subjects only. The marks for the fifth and sixth subjects will be decided based on the performance in the elective subjects. 

If the Board opts for the second option, then the examinations will be conducted in two phases. This phasing has been suggested to account for the variance in the Covid situation across the country. Locations where the situation is conducive will have their exams in the first phase, remaining areas in the second phase. Both phases will be held two weeks apart. 

Any student who is not able to sit for an examination due to Covid will get another opportunity to appear for it. The Education Ministry had declared the decision to cancel the Class 10 Board examination and defer the exam for Class 12 students due to the second wave of the pandemic On April 14. 

The Board announced a special marking scheme for Class 10 students in its affiliated schools on May 1st. For Class 12 Board examinations, the Ministry had stated that it will review the situation on June 1 to decide fresh dates and make an announcement at least two weeks before the start of the exams. Meeting with state governments has been called to decide which of the two options proposed by CBSE should be implemented. 

As it happens, all State Education Boards, CBSE and ICSE have postponed their Class XII exams. Likewise, the National Testing Agency (NTA) and other national exam-conducting institutions have also postponed their entrance exams for admissions to professional courses.