The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) class 10 and 12 board exams will be conducted post-February 2021 in an offline mode. The exact dates will be announced later after assessing the situation, Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal said during a live interaction with teachers.

He tweeted, “I received a lot of requests from various #students & #teachers to postpone @cbseindia29 board #exams for Class 10 & 12. Keeping the #COVID19 pandemic in mind & after various consultations, we have decided that #board exams will not be held in February.”

I received a lot of requests from various #students & #teachers to postpone @cbseindia29 board #exams for Class 10 & 12. Keeping the #COVID19 pandemic in mind & after various consultations, we have decided that #board exams will not be held in February. pic.twitter.com/CSGmYvYaYc

— Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (@DrRPNishank) December 22, 2020

He added that many schools are in rural areas, board exams would be held offline.

30 percent of the syllabus has also been reduced. The board exams will have 33 percent internal choice and an alternative to practical exams may be considered owing to the pandemic.

“We cannot allow COVID-19 to impact students and have them labelled as COVID-era students who passed without clearing any exams. We have organised JEE, NEET this year. They were among the biggest exams conducted amid the pandemic,” Pokhriyal added.

Meanwhile, the syllabus of JEE Main 2021 examination will remain the same as last year. However, in order to overcome the impact of the reduction of syllabus undertaken by some Boards, the question papers for JEE Main 2021 will have 90 questions (30 questions each in physics, chemistry, and mathematics), out of which the candidate will have to answer 75 questions (25 questions each in physics, chemistry, and mathematics), the Education Minister informed.

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