Schools debate pros & cons of 2 board exams: CBSE seeks opinion of stakeholders on draft policy
Telegraph | 28 February 2025
The CBSE’s plan to conduct board exams twice a year could prolong the stress for students and eat into the schools’ teaching time, several principals said.
The Central Board of Secondary Education(CBSE) has proposed two Class X board exams from 2026.
A draft policy on this has been uploaded on the board’s website for opinion from stakeholders.
A student or, on the insistence of parents, he might want to better his performance in the next board exam, which could only prolong the stress, and the cycle continues, said Loveleen Saigal, principal of Birla High School.
Often, the pressure to perform stems from the performance of peers or expectations of parents or even teachers. Self-expectation of high achievers is also a problem that schools battle.
“You will never be happy or satisfied because you will constantly feel there is another chance available to you,” said Koeli Dey, principal, Sushila Birla Girls’ School.
Dey said schools were not just meant to conduct assessments but to teach students, too. “Two exams in quick succession will eat into the academic calendar. Where is the learning time?” she said.
Schools that are exam centres host students from multiple centres, and it becomes difficult to run the school.
“Several halls or rooms are engaged for examination on a day there is a major exam,” said the head of a CBSE school in the city.
The draft policy stated that in 2026, the first phase of the exams will be conducted from February 17 to March 6 and the second phase from May 5 to 20 over a period of 34 days.
The stakeholders may respond to the draft policy by March 9.
“The board exams cause unnecessary stress for students, parents, and teachers. Two board exams will only increase the pressure and eat into the academic calendar of schools, which includes other school activities too,” said Saigal.
“Conducting exams means teachers will have to be engaged in invigilation and evaluation. So when will they complete the syllabus? This draft requires serious thinking,” she said.
The second board exam in May, part of which will be during the summer vacation, will overlap with the teachers’ holidays.
“There will be no break for teachers,” said Anjana Saha, principal, Mahadevi Birla World Academy.
Teachers are also wary of whether the sanctity of the exam will be compromised.
“Class X grades do not matter a lot except for the choice of subjects. My worry is whether students will take the first exam seriously if they know there is another attempt,” said Saha.
The principals said that they needed some clarifications, too. The Sahodaya School Complex (an association of CBSE schools) will conduct an online meeting next week.
“We have to look into the viability of it. Any change is initially hard to take, but there has to be some merit in it. We need to discuss this,” said Sangeeta Tandon, principal, Shri Shikshayatan School.
Alok Tibrewal, pro-vice chairman, Delhi Public School Ruby Park said it will give students the option to improve their scores. “It is a welcome change, and the second exam can be treated as an improvement exam,” he said.
Both the IB DP (International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme) for Grade XII and the Cambridge exam for Grades X and XII give options of appearing for boards at multiple times of the year.
The Cambridge exam has the February-March, May-June and October-November series. The IB DP offers the April-May and November-December series. Schools have the option of registering students at different times of the year.
“There is no point having a conversation about mental health if there are no changes on the ground. Children will never want to prolong the exam, but if they have messed up the exam, a second option will give them a recourse,” said Tina Servaia, senior school principal at Calcutta International School, which offers the international curriculum.