Coronavirus pandemic | MHRD asks CBSE to conduct board exams only for 29 main subjects

Students and parents from across the country are demanding postponement of the JEE-NEET exams due to COVID-19 pandemic

Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the human resource development ministry (MHRD) has asked the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to conduct board examinations only for 29 main subjects.

CBSE board examinations for Class X and XII had been postponed till March 31 to keep students/teachers safe from COVID-19.

CBSE will give 10 days to all stakeholders before starting the board examinations. The 29 subjects include six for Class X only for northeast Delhi that was hit by violence, apart from 12 subjects for Class XII (whole India) and 11 for northeast Delhi.

For Class X, exams will be held for Hindi Course A and B, English Comm, English Language and Literature, Science and Social Science for North-East Delhi which was hit by violence. For the rest of India, no other subject exam will be held for Class X.

In the case of Class XII, exams will be held for Business Studies, Geography, Hindi (Core and Elective), Home Science, Sociology, Computer Science (old and new), Information Practice (old and new), Information Technology and Biotechnology for the rest of India. As far as North-east Delhi is concerned, Class XII board exams will be held for English (Core and Elective), Mathematics, Biology, Political Science, History, Physics, Accountancy, and Chemistry.

As far as CBSE schools in foreign countries are concerned, the board said that no other subject examination will be held for Class X and XII due to the inability to get papers to India for evaluation. The procedure for assessment and declaring results in these cases will be notified later to these schools.

Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said in a tweet that these are the subjects that are required for promotion and are crucial for admission into higher education institutions.

For entry into engineering institutes, marks in subjects like Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics are essential whereas a few higher education institutes seek details of marks scored in subjects like Biology and Statistics.

When it comes to Class X, subjects like Mathematics, History, Geography, Physics and Social Sciences are among essential ones.

Nishank clarified that for the rest of the subjects, the board will not hold any examinations. CBSE will issue separate instructions for marking/assessments in such cases.

"As and when the Board is in a position to hold examinations, it will conduct examinations for the 29 subjects by giving adequate notice," he said.

On March 19, CBSE had announced that all board examinations for Classes X and XII scheduled between March 19 and 31 will be postponed to a later date.

Considering that India now has 1,637 reported positive cases and 38 deaths, individuals have been advised to stay at home and avoid non-essential travel.

Due to the 21-day lockdown announced by the government to contain the spread of COVID-19, schools across the country have also been shut and public transport suspended.

With this, there has been uncertainty among students due to deadlines for applications to higher education institutes.

Class XII marks are taken into account in all major examinations including engineering, medical as well for admissions into institutions like Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University among others.

It is not just the overall percentage score, but all marks in individual subjects that are a part of the entry criteria for higher education institutions in India and abroad.