Will Covid-19 permanently change exam trends for CBSE, other boards in 2022?

Considering the Covid-19 pandemic scenario, the national boards- CBSE, CISCE have reduced their syllabus for classes 10 and 12 from the commencing academic session 2022. The CBSE has announced to conduct exam semester-wise and also made changes in the paper pattern. 

CBSE 

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided to divide the 2022 session into two parts, 50 per cent of the syllabus will be covered in term 1 and the other 50 per cent of the syllabus will be covered in term 2 for all the classes 9 to 12. Candidates can check the complete revised syllabus at the official website of CBSE--cbseacademic.nic.in.  This year over 20.97 lakh (20,97,128) students were enrolled to appear for the class 10 exam, out of which a total of 20.76 lakh (20,76,997) and for class 12 a total of 1304561 candidates appeared for the class 12 exam and 2,91,135 passed the exam.

CISCE 

CISCE has decided to reduced the ICSE and ISC syllabus for the academic year 2022. Both ICSE and ISC have been divided into two portions and units/subunits to be covered with 50 per cent of the syllabus being covered in each semester.

CISCE board has revised the syllabus for ICSE (class 10) for subjects including-- History and civics, geography, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, economics, commercial studies, computer applications, economic applications, commercial applications, home science, physical education, yoga, and environmental applications. For ISC (class 12), the syllabus has been shortened for history, political science, geography, sociology, psychology, economics, commerce, accounts, business studies, computer science, environmental science, and biotechnology.

Not only the national boards, but the state boards like the Maharashtra Board, UP Board, and others have reduced the syllabus for the academic year 2022 following the line of CBSE, CISCE.

Maharashtra Board 

The state government reduced the syllabus for students from classes 1 to 12 by 25 per cent for the academic year 2020-21 also, due to Covid-19 pandemic. Maharashtra School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad twitted, “Based on consultations with various stakeholders and in view of the prevailing health emergency, we have decided to revise the syllabus for Class I to Class XII for the academic year 2021-22 and reduce the syllabus by 25 per cent like last year". 

As many as 16.58 lakh students registered to appear for Maharashtra Board 10th exams and 99.95 per cent have passed the exam and 13,19754 candidates were registered to appear for the class 12 result and 13,14,965 have passed. 

UP Board

Uttar Pradesh Board has reduced the exam duration to 1.5 hrs from the usual three hours. The exam will consist of 10 questions and students will have to choose three questions to answer.  UP Board is going to hold three internal assessments in the last week of August, October, and January for students of Classes 9 and 10. 

The pre-board exams will be held in February, while the board exams of classes 10 and 12 will be held between the first and third week of March. The UP Board students will be accessed throughout the year on the basis of their internal examinations to be held every month. 

Haryana Board 

Haryana Board Syllabus 2021-22 has been reduced by 30 per cent for Class 10 and 12 students. The reduced syllabus is available for all the subjects including English, Hindi, Science, Mathematics, and so on. Candidates can check their Haryana Board revised syllabus from the official website of bseh.org.in.
Haryana Board had released the class 12 result for 2,27,585 students and as many as 2,21,263 candidates have passed and for class 10 exam this year. 

Himachal Pradesh 

Himachal Pradesh board has reduced the syllabus for classes 10 to 12 by 30 per cent for the academic year 2021-22. Students will have to appear for a total of seven subjects with five subjects being compulsory and two optional subjects. 

As many as 1,00,799 students appeared for the class 12 exam and at least 92.7 percent of candidates have passed. As many as 1,16,784 students had appeared class 10 exam this year, out of which 10,015 students have obtained between 90 and 100 marks.

Tripura Board 

Tripura Board has also reduced 30 per cent of the syllabus for students who are going to appear for the class 10, 12 board exam 2022. Candidates will only appear for the test based on 70 per cent of the syllabus. According to media reports, Tripura board president, Dr Bhabatos Saha confirmed to follow the same exam pattern and syllabus in the coming year also. 

A total of 26,610 candidates were enrolled to take the Class 10 examinations, and 27,205 students were scheduled to take the Class 12 examinations.