CBSE 12th Exams 2021: Here’s what students feel about conducting Class 12 board exams amid pandemic

Shiksha.com conducted a survey to know the sentiments of Class 12^th students across the country to the decision of board giving a go-ahead to the board examinations. Here’s what the statistics revealed.

With India reeling under the second wave of Coronavirus pandemic, Union Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal’s decision to hold the CBSE 12^th board exams 2021 in pen-and-paper mode has received a mixed bag of reactions from students, majority of whom want the 12^th board exam evaluation to be done via internal assessments. However, if the decision to hold the exam remains, students will prefer the route of multiple-choice (MCQs) and short-answer-type questions.

Over 1,000 students participated in the survey and voiced their opinions on how the examinations are going to affect their lives. They also shared their fears of writing an offline exam and concerns about higher education. Let’s see what the Shiksha survey reveals.

Latest Update: The CBSE Class 12 examinations have been cancelled in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. The same has been announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 1, 2021. Read Here

Latest Update: ISC Exams 2021 cancelled. Read Here

Should Class 12 Board Exams 2021 be conducted?

A staggering 56 per cent students feel that the CBSE Class 12 evaluation should be done on the basis of internal assessments and that no offline exams should be conducted. Among these, many students believe that visiting an exam centre amid pandemic is not safe for them as they fear getting infected.

Over 20 per cent students feel that the examinations should be conducted as they are important for admissions to higher education. They feel that their marks will help them secure seats in good colleges and differentiate them from students who do not perform well. Thus, they can have an edge over others.

Many students (16 per cent) also feel that the Board exams should be optional. They want the best of two to be considered between the internal assessments and marks scored in board exams while 5 per cent of the students who participated are confused or unsure in their opinion about CBSE 12^th exams 2021.

What is the format in which CBSE 12^th board exams can be held?

Now that CBSE has decided to go ahead with conducting the examinations, we asked students about their opinion on the exam pattern. Usually, the board exams are conducted for all five or six subjects. The question papers consist of subjective and objective type questions and the duration of the exam is 3 hours.

With CBSE yet to announce its decision on the exam pattern for Class 12 exams, the survey shows that the majority of students (45 per cent) want the exams to be of a shorter duration (read 1.5 hours) which should consist of only MCQs and short-answer-type questions.

However, what is astonishing here is that 31 per cent of students demand a normal 3-hour exam. This shows that many students do take the board exams seriously and feel that their performance can impact their academic lives.

Nearly 14 and 10 per cent students opine for having a normal 3-hour exam with objective and short-answer-type questions only and examinations of reduced duration (1.5 hours), respectively.

Why should CBSE 12^th exams 2021 not be conducted?

Upon facing this question, students shared their fears in the survey. As many as 78 per cent students do not feel safe visiting the exam centre and taking the exam amid pandemic situation. They also feel that the situation is grim and depressing and around 34 per cent of the respondents have lost their near and dear ones to COVID infection.

We can infer here that students were not in an emotional and mental state to concentrate on their studies during such times. Only 7 per cent of students admitted to the fact that they were not prepared for the examinations.

Should board exams be the qualifying criteria for college admissions where competitive exam are being held?

With the uncertain environment around board exams, 55 per cent of students feel that competitive exams should be the only criteria for shortlisting of admissions to higher educational institutes. Another reason for selecting this option could be that COVID tsunami was at its peak during the revision months which did not let students focus entirely on studies with so much havoc around them. Now, with the graph of COVID cases decreasing across the country, students will be able to focus on preparation of entrance exams. 

However, there are students (16 per cent) who want their board marks to be the qualifying criteria as they are targeting colleges where board marks determine their rank in the merit list.

Fifteen per cent of respondents favour board exams as they feel these are important for their academic records while other 15 per cent are unsure.

If Class 12th exams are cancelled, do you think it will have a major impact on admissions to high-ed institutions and finding jobs?

The respondents to the Shiksha survey on Class 12^th board exams are quite comfortable with the board exams being cancelled. Over 40 per cent of students feel that the exam cancellation will have somewhat but not a major impact on their admissions to higher educational institutions.

In a meeting with state ministers on May 23, Pokhriyal had decided to give a go ahead to conducting the Class 12 exams 2021 in offline mode and gave boards an option to hold exams only for main subjects or include only MCQs and short-answer-type questions. The Central board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will announce its final decision on the CBSE 12^th exam dates and pattern on June 1.

This survey was conducted by Shiksha.com with the intent to bring forth varied opinions of Class 12 students around the country on the critical issue of conducting offline board exams amid COVID-19 pandemic and to give it a data-centric approach. For any details or queries, please feel free to get in touch with us at deepank.paliwal@shiksha.com

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