Mita Mukherjee

Students appearing for the ICSE and ISC first semester exams will be allowed to take the test either from school or from home, the Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) announced on Wednesday, exams are slated to begin on November 15. The CISCE had earlier announced that the ICSE and ISC first semester exams will be held online and the questions will be in the form of Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs).

In a circular issued to heads of all CISCE affiliated schools, the council said: “ It may be noted that candidates can take the examination either from SCHOOL or from HOME. While the preference would be to take the examination from the school,  with the parent’s consent being mandatory, the examination could also be taken from the candidates’ home.”

The principals of some schools said since the examinations will be held in online mode, they were under the impression that the students would have to take the test from home. 

The school heads today said they welcomed the CISCE’s decision to keep both options open as this would be helpful for students who do not have a proper device at home or face problems with poor connectivity. The schools can arrange proper devices and ensure smooth conduct of the examination without interruption.

The schools have been asked to inform the CISCE about the location from where the candidates will take the examination and the type of device they will be using for taking the test such as laptop, desktop, tablet or smartphone. The device must have a camera and microphone, the Council said and this information will have to be submitted to the Council by the schools on or before October 18.  

In order to conduct the examinations smoothly, CISCE has asked schools to nominate their teachers for proctoring. For every 25 students, the schools have been asked to appoint one proctor and at least one buffer proctor for every 50 candidates. But the schools should have a maximum of three buffer proctors. In addition, schools have been directed to appoint one IT support executive for every 100 students. But no school should have more than three IT support executives.

The schools have been asked to provide the details about the nominated teachers to the council. For example, their name, mobile number and personal email address and the school code. The format for sending the details will be made available to the schools on the Careers portal of the CISCE on October 7.

In a bid to establish uniformity in the system for assessing classes X and XII students, the CISCE had announced in August that the academic session for classes X and XII students of the 2021-22 batch would be divided into two semesters and the council would conduct an examination after each semester.

Also read: ICSE & ISC first semester exams to start from November 15, 2021