Four months after the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) said it was deliberating conducting Class 12 practical examination at external centres, the board came out with the examination schedule on Monday and said it would follow the previous year’s pattern with a more ‘strengthened’ system.
‘We have asked them to upload marks simultaneously and will also appoint a third-party observer who would supervise the conduct of exams,’ said Sanyam Bhardwaj, Controller of Examinations. ‘In addition to this, we gave schools more than a month to conduct the practical examinations, which is an increased time frame from previous years so that schools have enough time to prepare.’
Between January 1, 2020 to February 7, 2020, the practical exams of both Class 10 and Class 12 students will be held at the same school they are enrolled in. Schools will have to upload the marks immediately on the link provided by the board after the assessment is over. As per past practice, there will be an external examiner and internal examiner.
When questioned on the July proposal to conduct Class 12 practical examination at external centres, Bhardwaj said, ‘Para 4.9.5 of the draft NEP Act among other things, also says that ‘practical portions of certain board examinations shall be assessed locally according to preset paradigms’. Accordingly, after going through these recommendations in their entirety, it was decided to continue conducting practical exams in schools, but with a strengthened system.’
In July, HT had reported that the board was deliberating holding practical exams of Class 12 at external centres for the 2020 examination, just the way it conducts theory exams, ‘to streamline’ the process.
Awadhesh Kumar Jha, principal of a government school in Rohini, Sector 8 said, ‘The move shows that CBSE has faith in principals that we can conduct practical examinations. While students will not be stressed about appearing for practicals in another school, schools too would be relieved since some may not have the desired infrastructure.’
