July 31 is last date to apply for CBSE subject change

Nagpur: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has said that change of subject for STD XI passouts be submitted before July 31, much earlier than the previous years’ deadline which was in September.
While the board takes anywhere between two weeks to a month to formally approve the subject change, a majority of schools allow students to shift to their new subjects with immediate effect. But with a handful of schools not allowing that, students were forced to attend classes for a subject they no longer wished to pursue.
CBSE’s new academic session for Std XII starts on April 1 and goes on till the first week of May. Then it resumes in the last week of June after the summer vacations. Dilemma for some city students was that if they applied for a subject change in the first week of April then till May first week they were asked to continue attending lectures for their previous subject.
While such schools are ‘technically’ right, many say CBSE understands that certain leeway can be given even if it is without a written order. Principal of a school located off Wardha Road said, “Permission from CBSE always comes through, so there is no point in holding back the student. We just let them sit in the new subject class while the paperwork gets done through the board’s regional office.”
Majority of schools agreed saying CBSE’s rule is open for interpretation and they preferred to make the process ‘student-friendly’. Another principal, of a Kamptee Road-based school said there is no written rule which mandates a student to attend classes of the old subject. “I do not recall seeing anything in writing which says that. And regardless, there’s no point in subjecting a student to all the stress for a month till the permission comes,” said the principal.
However, there is one condition which the student must fulfil before the subject change can be done.
“The student must not have failed in the subject’s exam. If the student fails in the subject after the change has been sought then a second chance is given to clear it well before the full fledged session for STD XII starts. Passing that exam is mandatory for the subject change being approved,” the same principal said.