CBSE Class 12 Board exams: Announcement on exams unlikely today

The union government had held a consultation with the state governments on May 23, in which the attendees were presented with two options of conducting the school-leaving examination. Under Option A, the CBSE proposed to the hold examination in 19 major subjects in the existing format in designated centres. The second option entailed conducting examination for 19 major subjects, each exam would be of 90 minutes, instead of one-and-half hours.

After the meeting, the states were asked to submit their feedback in writing. As first reported by The Indian Express, 32 states and union territories support holding the Class 12 board examination. Of these, 29 states and UTs are either okay with conducting the exam in a curtailed format or are willing to accept the ministry’s decision.

Read | CBSE Class 12 exams: All you need to know about board exams 2021

However, with the matter now in the Supreme Court, the ministry, on Monday evening, is learned to have decided that it would first inform the top court of its decision and wait for a judgment.

Watch | ‘Need clarity on dates of board exams’: Students and faculty

On Monday, the Centre told the Supreme Court that it will decide in the next two days whether or not to hold the Class XII board exams amid the pandemic.

“The government will take a final decision within the next two days. We are hoping that your lordships will give us time till Thursday (June 3) so that we can come back with the final decision”, Attorney General K K Venugopal told a bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari.

Allowing the SG’s request, the bench ordered: “list on Thursday as requested by the attorney general as the competent authority is examining all the aspects of the matter and is likely to take an in-principle decision, which will be placed before the court”. The court has asked the government to give tangible reasons if it chose to depart from last year’s policy.