The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) cancelled board exams for grade 10 and postponed them for grade 12 because of the worsening Covid-19 situation in India.
Number of deaths in India due to Covid-19 Source: Our World in Data
Due to the CBSE exams being cancelled and postponed in India the same was done for all CBSE schools in the U.A.E. too.
Nivrithi Kumar*, 16, who just completed CBSE grade 10, in the U.A.E. said: “I think this announcement should have come earlier. 10th grade had become very frustrating for all of us.
“When I heard the announcement, I felt mixed emotions. Happy because we were studying for a whole year and 10th had finally ended and sad because 13 months of hard work was wasted.”
The CBSE announced the cancellation on 14 April 2021 and stated that students in grade 10 would be promoted to grade 11 based on their internal assessments.
[infogram id=”3a200afe-71b9-4182-9a9b-621a1101dc7f” prefix=”Pld” format=”interactive” title=”Untitled instagram post”]
Alankrit Agarwal, 15, a CBSE grade 10 student, from U.A.E., said: “The cancellation is bad because I think I would’ve done extremely well in the board examination but now the criteria for the results are being marked internally and my result may not live up to my expectations as teachers (in school) tend to mark more strictly, keeping my potential in mind.”
Nivrithi Kumar also added that her classmates had varying opinions on this issue.
She said: “My friend said she didn’t do well in the school exams and she was very upset about the exams being cancelled. She even came here (to Nivrithi’s house) crying.”
Nivrithi said she could have scored around 99%, had the board examination taken place but because of the internal assessment criteria would now be getting around 92%, which she found a little disheartening.
The Union Education Minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank tweeted that all students who were unhappy with their grade 10 results would be given the option to sit for the exam when the situation improved.
Any candidate who is not satisfied with the marks allocated to him/her on this basis will be given an opportunity to sit in an exam as and when the conditions are conducive to hold the exams.
— Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (@DrRPNishank) April 14, 2021
Alankrit said: “I will challenge the marks and sit for the exams if I am not satisfied with them as this result is important and if I feel I can do better than the result given.”
“My fear is that I will not have the experience of appearing for the boards and it may affect me in the future when I give them in grade 12.”
*Name changed to protect her identity.