The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Grade 10 and 12 examinations will go ahead as planned, several schools told Khaleej Times. Stringent safety and hygiene protocols will also be adopted by the schools to ensure the safety of students attempting the exams.
The Indian High School, a centre for the exams said the exams will go ahead as scheduled. “Unless and until the board advises otherwise, we will be organizing the exams for students,” said an Indian High School official.
Mick Gernon, Chief Education Innovation Officer at GEMS Education said, “Our Grade 10 and 12 CBSE students still have a small number of public exams to complete between now and March 20. We have everything in place to ensure that those examinations continue as planned.”
Commenting on the school’s internal exam policies, he added, “Our focus on examination groups, intervention and revision sessions, completion of coursework, and internal assessments will continue as planned and facilitated through live online sessions between students and their teachers.”
Zubair Ahmed, the head of HR and administration at the Springdale School Dubai, said, “All board exams will go ahead as scheduled. This directive has come from the board in India.”
EP Johnson, the president of Indian Association in Sharjah, the not-for-profit body that manages Sharjah Indian School, confirmed all board exams will go ahead as planned until March 26.
Johnson said Sharjah Indian School is one among the biggest centre for the board exams in the UAE as a total of 1,500 students from other schools attempt the exams in the SIS school campus and 1,072 students from Sharjah Indian schools are attempting the exam this year.
“These numbers include Grade 10 and 12 students. Meanwhile, in the classrooms, as per CBSE directive, 24 students are allowed per class. We will maintain that number and the students will be seated further two meters apart to maintain safety and hygiene,” said Johnson.
Internal examinations at the Sharjah Indian School will be held until March 11. “After both set of exams are over, the school will be closed as per directives from the Ministry of Education,” he said. The school has installed multiple hand sanitizers in campus and doubled the strength of its cleaning teams. “The school will be thoroughly cleaned several times a day. If students and staff need masks, the school will provide them as well,” he added.
Earlier in the day, Sharjah Private Education Authority (SPEA) advised Indian and Pakistani curriculum schools to go ahead with the final examination dates as scheduled.
SPEA took to Instagram to make the announcement and said examinations for Indian and Pakistani curriculums final examination dates will remain as it is, on condition that students will perform their examinations and return home once they are done.
In India’s capital, despite the communal clashes, a total of 97.8 per cent class 10 students appeared for board examination in violence-affected Northeast Delhi.