ICSE postpones exams for polls in five states

HYDERABAD: The Council for Indian School Certificate Examination has decided to reschedule the annual exams in view of the Assembly elections in five states. Elections are slated in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur from February 4 to March 8. An academics official from an international school in the city said that they received a communication from New Delhi that fresh dates would be announced.

The Indian School Certificate exams and Indian Certificate of Secondary Education exams were set to begin in February. Uncertainty prevails over annual board exams in CBSE schools. As per the usual schedule, exams were set to commence from March 1. When contacted, CBSE public relations officer Rama Sharma said that no decision had been taken yet on rescheduling exams, prolonging the uncertainty for students.

The principal of a school affiliated with the CBSE said the board had stuck to the March 1 date for almost 30 years. The date used to change only if the first day of March was a Sunday. “The situation is challenging. Most CBSE sch-ools are used as polling booths in the five states. How the board avoids conflict of dates remains to be seen,” she said.