The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has announced that the class 10 and class 12 board exams 2019 will be held in the month of February. CBSE has decided to hold exams for Skill Education (Vocational) and related subjects in the second half of February. However, examinations for all the Core Academic subjects, such as Languages, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, Economics, Business Studies, Accountancy, Economics etc., will continue to be held in the month of March at the external examinations centres fixed by the Board. This decision has been taken in pursuance of a court order.
The High Court of Delhi in its judgment dated 11.07.2018 has directed Delhi University and CBSE to ensure from the commencing academic year, that the result of CBSE, including results of re-evaluation “are taken into account whilst determining the cut-off date for admission to colleges of the University of Delhi”. The HRD Minister, Shri Prakash Javadekar, had directed CBSE and Delhi University to hold consultations and to make efforts in this direction.
In this backdrop, after due consultations, CBSE has decided that exams for all Skill Education (Vocational) subjects shall be held in the latter half of February. There are 40 Skill Education (Vocational) subjects being offered in class 12 and 15 in class 10. There are also certain other related subjects such as Typography and Computer Applications (English), Web applications, Graphics, Office Communication, etc. where there are very few students, in fact, less than 500. These will also be included in February exams as these subjects have a larger practical component and shorter theory papers. This slight advancement of the date sheet of the board will facilitate slightly earlier declaration of both – the main results and the re-evaluation results – as compared to earlier years.
CBSE offers a basket of over 240 subjects to its examinees of class 10th and 12th Board. In class 12th, the only compulsory subject is language, while in class 10th the compulsory subjects are Languages, Mathematics, Science and Social Sciences. The students are free to choose any combination of subjects in addition to the mandatory subjects as per the scheme of studies.
Unlike most other Boards, CBSE does not have any streams or fixed combination of subjects at senior secondary level. Presently, the examination date sheet of CBSE begins from March, and it extends to seven weeks or more, to be able to accommodate all possible combinations of subjects. Due to this, results go on to the fourth week of May, and the re-evaluation process gets completed only in July end. By this time, the admissions in DU and many other universities is almost completed. The subjects for which the exams will be held in February and in March will be notified on the CBSE website next week.
