Dates announced for CBSE board exams in UAE

Grade 12 students write CBSE board examination at the Indian High School, Dubai.- File photo

Thousands of Indian students from across the UAE will be attempting the annual Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) exams from February 21 to March 29, 2019, board officials have announced. From Dubai and the Northern Emirates, a total of 13,546 school students will take the Grade 10 and 12 exams.
Scheduled to take place a few weeks ahead of the original examination dates, the new date sheet has been appreciated by students and educators alike. According to the CBSE, it has released the schedule seven weeks before the exam date in order to give students sufficient time between consecutive papers.
Nathan Eric, a Grade 12 student from Dubai, said: "There are plenty of gaps between each exam. A lot of us are preparing for the competitive exams as well. If the board exams end early, we can focus on the entrance tests, too."
Depending on school policy, students have been attempting different mock-up tests, revision question papers and other periodical tests to prepare for the board examinations.
The board said the exam schedule has been fixed in a way that it doesn't coincide with the dates of competitive exams. Last year, the board had to reschedule the Class 12 Physics paper because it clashed with the JEE Main exam date.
"While preparing the date sheet, the admission schedule of the Delhi University has also been considered," said Dr Sanyam Bhardwaj, Controller of Examinations.
Earlier, the Delhi High Court had asked the Delhi University to fix the cut-off dates for admission to undergraduate courses only after CBSE results are declared, including the results for re-evaluation. The CBSE offers 40 vocational subjects in Class 12 and 15 in Class 10.
The exams for vocational subjects will be held earlier. Exams for core academic subjects will begin in March. Out of the 240 subjects it offers, this year, students have opted for 30,000 combinations of subjects in both the classes. Results, however, will be declared by the first week of June, Bhardwaj said.
Ashok Kumar, CEO of the Indian High School Dubai, said: "We knew the calendar dates well ahead of time and began preparing the students for the final exam from the very beginning. The exam date sheet itself is a balanced one, with proper gaps between each exam."
Enough time to revise
Students said the dates gave them ample time to revise, especially for "tougher subjects". Students said that though the Grade 10 exams begin on February 21, the Mathematics paper is on March 7.
"There are a few regional language exams in between like Malayalam and Urdu. But most of us will be attempting Math on March 7," said Lakshmi Vijayan, a Grade 10 student from Sharjah. "Ours is the second batch of students attempting the exam ... Our teachers prepared us well in advance and we had several extra classes throughout the holidays."
Michael Guzder, vice-president, education, GEMS Education said: "The CBSE board had already informed through their circulars that examination for selected subjects would be in February and schools have been preparing pupils for the early exams.
"Most schools have announced dates for the previous boards and have procedures in place like extra support classes, mock tests, remedial work, working out past papers for pupils - thereby preparing them well in advance for the boards."
Guzder also said it would be a welcome relief that the examinations will be over early in April as compared to the previous years. "This will give pupils looking to write entrance examinations for professional courses time to consolidate their learning and prepare well," he added.
dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com