The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has asked the principals of many of its affiliated schools to suggest the possibility of holding board examinations twice a year from the 2025-26 academic session.
The National Education Policy (NEP) has recommended conducting board examinations twice a year to enable students to appear in one of them or both for improvement.
After being instructed by the ministry of education (MoE), the CBSE has written to several principals to make suggestions on the issue. It also sought the opinion of the principals about introducing a semester system for Classes IX to XII, as recommended by the NEP.
"The CBSE has sought the recommendations of principals on the feasibility of conducting board examinations twice a year. Based on that the final decision will be taken," said a principal.
However, the proposal is not meant for the students currently pursuing Class X or Class XII, who will appear in the board examinations in February-March 2025.
At present, the CBSE holds the board exams in February-March. The results are declared in May. It holds a compartment exam in June-July for students who fail in one or more subjects in the main exam.
According to the CBSE's proposal, the students would appear in the first board examination around November-December, while they will have the opportunity to sit in the second exam in February-March. The better performance will be considered as the final result. The academic schedule, which starts in April, may be advanced to enable the schools to complete the syllabus by November.
The principals of four schools said that holding two proper board examinations may not be feasible.
"It may not be possible to hold two full-fledged examinations. What is possible is that the CBSE can allow students seeking to improve upon their results to sit in the compartment exam," one of the four principals, who didn't want to be identified, said.
The principal of another school disapproved of the idea, saying such a move would affect the sincerity and interest of students.
"Now there is an annual board exam. The students, parents and schools are focused on the examination from the beginning of the session. If the board exam is held twice, a large section of students may ignore the first chance or appear in a casual way. There is no benefit," she said.
An official of the education ministry said that once the CBSE as a leading board takes a decision, other boards may be advised to follow it.
Professor C.B. Sharma, director of school of education at Indira Gandhi National Open University (Ignou) and former chairman of the National Institute of Open Schooling, an open school board, said the NIOS holds board exams twice a year, first in March-April and then in September-October. In addition, there is an option for on-demand examination for the students who are ready to appear for the test at any time.
