By Asmita Kundu
Amid all the on-going speculations of CBSE board exams 2021 dates, many schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education have started conducting the pre-board exams in online mode. While this led to many key-concerns for the school authorities and the students as well, CBSE has confirmed that the 2021 board exams for Class 10 and Class 12 will be held offline.
Also Read - CBSE Board Exam 2021 Dates: When Will be the Exam of Class 10 and 12?
Pre-board examinations are the mock tests prior to the crucial board examinations. Hence this is a very important step for the students before they appear for the board exams. As these online pre-board exams prompted many challenges, offline exams cannot be conducted without local government’s permission.
Meanwhile, the main concerns raised by the school authorities are - anti-cheating mechanism, lack of smart device, and writing a three-hour-long paper online. Hence, while going online remains the only option for many schools, it is also a challenge to the students of Class 10 and 12 who would struggle to write a three-hour-long paper.
Another crucial issue is the anti-cheating mechanism. As students will be taking the tests from home, it will be extremely easy for them to look through books or notes as there won’t be the presence of an invigilator. However, there’s no better option found in order to beat the challenge of surveillance. According to a report of The Indian Express, some school authorities have asked the students to keep their video cameras/ webcams on during the exam.
On the other hand, most of the students do not have a proper set-up at home for online tests i.e. high-speed internet connection, computer set-up. Some students rely only on their mobile phones. In that scenario, it will be challenging to those students and as well the school authorities to organise all the equipment for the online pre-board exams from home.
However, while most of the state governments are not allowing for offline pre-board exams due to COVID-19 pandemic, the Haryana government has permitted the CBSE schools for offline tests of Class 10th and 12th students.
In the meantime, Class 10th and 12th CBSE board students are eagerly waiting for the announcements of the CBSE board exams 2021 dates. Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank has recently hinted on the exam dates saying that it is not compulsory to conduct the exams in March amid the surge of COVID-19 cases.
Pokhriyal will reportedly hold another live session on December 22 to make urgent announcements regarding the 2021 board exams.
