New Delhi: There will be no examination for class X CBSE students across the country, except for students from North-East Delhi, Union HRD Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal announced on Tuesday.
The decision of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) comes in view of the extended lockdown enforced across the country in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak.
For students in North-East Delhi, an adequate time of ten days will be given to prepare for the exams, the minister said before adding that "a decision will soon be taken on the pending CBSE 12 board exams.”
"As a response to the COVID-19 lockdown, the CBSE will assess the loss of instructional time for proportionate reduction in curriculum load for 2021 board exams. In accordance, course committees of the board have initiated work on reduced syllabus in various scenarios. The students will be notified on the same," he said.
ICSE and state boards are yet to take a decision on the pending examinations.
Dates for the JEE and NEET examinations have also been set for July 18-23 and July 26 respectively. While the Joint Entrance Exam-Mains (JEE-MAINS) is conducted for admission to engineering colleges across the country, the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) is for admission to medical colleges.
More than 15 lakh students across the country have registered for NEET this year, whereas more than nine lakh have registered for JEE Mains, the entrance exam for all engineering colleges except the IITs.
The JEE-Mains is considered as a qualifying exam for JEE-Advanced.
The HRD Ministry's National Testing Agency (NTA) had also given students an option to change their opted centres for the two tests as many of them have moved to different places since the lockdown.
Taking into account the recent changes, the academic session 2020-21 for UG and PG will commence from August 1 for old students and from September 1 for new students, the minister said.
There will also be no fee hike introduced for the next academic year in top tier institutions in the country, namely the IITs and NITs.
Universities and schools across the country have been closed since March 16, when the Centre announced a countrywide classroom shutdown as one of the measures to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. Later, a nationwide lockdown was announced from March 25 which will last till May 17.
