No board exams for students of Classes 5, 8 this year: Haryana govt

The Haryana government has deferred its plan to hold board examinations for Classes 5 and 8 till next year, amidst strong reservations expressed by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the CISCE against the state’s proposal. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar made the announcement on Monday.

The Indian Express has first reported on February 21, that the CBSE had conveyed its doubts over the proposal to the Ministry of Education (MoE), the CISCE has written directly to the Haryana Government disagreeing with the latter’s decision. There are nearly 1,300 CBSE schools and 26 CISCE-affiliated schools in the state. CISCE conducts the ICSE exam for Class 10 students and the ISC exam for Class 12 students.

“However, Khattar’s announcement on Monday made no reference to the Boards’ stand or the opposition voiced by the schools and parents. “In wake of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, students’ studies were affected. Thus, we have decided to defer the board examinations for class 5th and 8th for the current session. The board examinations shall be held next year. For the current session, schools have been asked to conduct the examinations at their own level,” Khattar said.

In October 2021, the Board of School Education, Haryana (BSEH) had proposed the conduct of board exams for Classes 5 and 8 in all government and private schools in Haryana, irrespective of the education board they are affiliated to. The move was justified on the ground that it would help monitor students’ progress and to conduct a standardised assessment of the learning outcomes.

The decision sparked controversy among the private schools in the state affiliated to CBSE and CISCE boards. Associations of private school management have opposed this move insisting that a school affiliated with one board cannot have affiliation with another to conduct board exams.

The state government withdrew the order last month after a few schools approached the High Court. However, on January 18, the government brought out a notification to amend the Right to Education Act and appointed SCERT in Haryana as the “Academic Authority” to conduct exams for Classes 5 and 8. The SCERT, on January 28, entrusted BSEH with the responsibility.

As per the state government’s order, all government and private schools were expected to register themselves with the Haryana board to conduct class 5 and 8 exams before February 20.

Aggravated by this development, school associations on February 9 filed a petition in the High Court of Punjab and Haryana seeking a stay on the order. The first hearing was on February 10 and the court has reserved its decision on the matter until the next hearing on April 4.

Meanwhile, across various parts of the State, parents and students have been protesting for the last many days demanding the state government to cancel the proposed decision to hold board examinations for Classes 5 and 8. Parents had been asserting that the board examinations for these classes would create unnecessary stress for students, who were as such struggling to overcome the learning gaps after repeated school closures and online classes due to ongoing pandemic for the last over two years.

However, with Monday’s development, the issue has been put on the back burner for now. “To discuss the issue of whether to hold board examinations for these two classes, a meeting was scheduled to be held on February 25. We shall see if the meeting is required to be held now. But, we have decided not to hold state board examinations for these two classes, for the current session”, Khattar said.