UP Board: Compartment exams for class 12 students

Prayagraj: Over 35,000 class 12 students of UP Board who couldn’t score well in their examinations have a chance to make amends. UP Board will allow students who couldn’t score passing marks in a subject to appear for a compartment examination. The move has been introduced for the first time for class 12 students.
The board would soon be announcing the dates for the compartment exams and a proposed scheme has been sent to the state government.
The schedule would be announced as soon as the government approves the scheme. “The move is in the interest of students who had to repeat a class just because they couldn’t score passing marks in a single subject,” said UP Board secretary Divyakant Shukla. Shukla took charge after former secretary Neena Srivastava retired on June 30. The board would also not mention that an examinee appeared for the compartment exam in the marksheet-cum-pass certificate it issues to students who pass class 12.
“Till last year, UP Board offered students the option of appearing in an improvement exam only if they failed to score passing marks in two subjects. The option to appear in a compartment examination was only available to high school students who failed in a single subject,” said an official.
“Some students who couldn’t pass in a subject, did apply for scrutiny. However, their number was quite low,” the official added. UP Board felt the need to introduce compartment examinations after it implemented the ‘one paper per subject’ rule in 2019. After studying for two papers in each subject for years, in 2019 students were made to appear for one exam in each of the 39 subjects UP Board offered. “The decision reduced the burden on students, but it also made it tougher to clear the exams. Earlier, if a student failed to perform well in an one of the papers of the subject, there was always another exam to make up. However, they no longer had that option in 2019,” said the official.