Board Exams: An unending qualm

Bengaluru, May 24: Over the years, Board exams have characterised CBSE. Despite concerns over rote learning, quality and content of syllabus in the contemporary times, exams continue to be the numero uno newsmaker for CBSE.

The new wave of COVID infections led to postponement and cancellation of class 12 and 10 exams respectively. While the cancellation of class ten exams was met with bitter sweet emotions, postponement of class 12 exams has led to frustration, despair among students.

Undeniably, there exists a group of students, happy with the cancellation. "With the officials seesawing between whether to take it or not(exams), it was really uncertain and extremely stressing." said Niranjana Menon, a class X student from Hyderabad, who mentioned that yes, she was indeed happy about the cancellation. This is not surprising since contracting the Virus is the primary worry.

The board's decision to follow evaluation based on Internal Assessment for class X also has its flaws as it favors students who may have used unfair means in their online tests. Moreover, several students begin studying only months before their board exam, coupled with the tendency of schools to mark the internals lower makes this assessment highly unfair.

"Every school has different internal assessment methods. While one school may have periodic tests and half yearly examinations before preboards, another school may not follow the same evaluation pattern." Said Mrs. Tharunnya Mangat Science HOD at a Bangalore School. She believes that this kind of evaluation disturbs the uniformity of evaluation. The delay in decision-making has seemingly led to more chaos and dilemma.

However, for Class XII, tomorrow is the D-day for a decision. Students seem puzzled about exam preparation. "Currently my vehicle is pretty slow. The amount of diligence that went into studying before, isn't there anymore. Our syllabus was completed in December last year and since then we've written four pre-boards" said Bennetta Varghese, a Science student, from Hyderabad. In Mrs.Mangatt's words, those students who are planning to take a gap year too will be affected by this decision, due to the prolonged period of uncertainty.

Boards reaction to reduce the syllabus, is not something that students or teachers truly want. The issue here is multi-faceted. This severs the link between topics. "In order to teach attributions of force, first, the chapter force needs to be taught again," Said Mrs. Mangatt.

Tenth graders, especially those opting for sciences, fear that this would hinder the basic level of understanding required for classes 11 and 12. These topics will find a place in entrance exams too and not everyone can afford an Aakash or Allen.

Rennan Joby, a class 12 humanities student, faces a different problem. "For us, this led to procrastination. The reduction made us more laid back." According to him, struggles with consistency and motivation are only normal but will impact their marks eventually.

At this point in time, conducting grade 12 examinations, would only delay the admission process into colleges, further. However, when asked about whether or not they would like to write boards, though worries about the surge in cases run high, twelfth grade students wish to be done with the examinations once and for all rather than live in constant feelings of misgivings.