17 April,2021 07:06 AM IST | Mumbai | Pallavi Smart
More than 23,000 students had taken the ICSE exam in the city last year
Citing the second wave of the Coronavirus outbreak in the country, the Council for the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education on Friday deferred its exams for classes X and XII, days after CBSE made a similar announcement.
While a final call on the ISC or Std XII students will be taken in June, ICSE Std X students will have two options - either to take the exam along with ISC or skip it as the Council has developed a formula for results without exams. The decisions by CBSE and ICSE have brought great relief for many board students. With an explosion of cases in Maharashtra and a rapid surge in other states, students in Stds X and XII and their parents were under tremendous pressure. Now after ICSE's announcement, almost all boards have either cancelled or postponed board examinations.
A circular issued by Council CEO and Secretary Gerry Arathoon reads, "In light of the nationwide surge in COVID 19 cases the CISC has decided to defer the ICSE and ISC board examinations scheduled to be held from May 4."
While the decision has been welcomed by all, there is yet a pressing demand for the cancellation of ISC exams too by parents. "Why be unfair to Std XII students? They are studying for this exam for over a year now. There is no guarantee that in June the situation will favour offline exams. But until then they have to wait in anticipation. This leads to anxiety among many," said Suchitra Raghavan, a parent.
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Francis Joseph, founder of the SLN Global Network that has been in touch with various boards over these exams, said, "ICSE's decision today is very similar to that of CBSE. Only it is communicated differently. But it is important that unless students and parents know of the alternative criterion of assessment, it will be difficult to take the decision."
He added, "However, in case of Std XII for all the boards, it is important to wait and see as a blanket decision cannot really help as, unlike Std X, these students are embarking on their journey to higher education."
