COVID-19: CBSE conducts compartment exam for class 10, 12 at over 1,200 centres

The compartment examination for class 10 and 12 began on Tuesday at 1,268 centres across the country amid strict precautions in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

The board has also given a chance to class 12 students to appear for the exam if they were unsatisfied with the marks awarded to them on the basis of an alternate assessment scheme after the exams were cancelled due to the spread of COVID-19.

However, class 10 students have not got any option to improve their performance.

Over 2.3 lakh candidates are appearing for the compartment exam this year. While class 10 students appeared for Social Science exam, for class 12 exams of multiple subjects were scheduled, including Political Sciences, Physics, Biology, History and Accountancy.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Tuesday suggested that the CBSE declare the results of compartment examination expeditiously and asked the University Grants Commission (UGC) to ensure that students get admission in colleges saying "these are exceptional times".

"All candidates will carry their own hand sanitiser in transparent bottles and (their own) water bottles, and will be required to cover their mouth and nose with mask or cloth. Students were allotted centre in their home school only unless they had placed a request otherwise due to change in location during lockdown," a senior board official said.

"Optional examination for class 12 students whose result has been declared based on the assessment scheme and wish to improve their performance, is also be conducted with the compartment examination. The marks obtained by a candidate in these optional examinations will be treated as final for those who have opted to take these examinations," the official added.

The results of the board exams, which were cancelled in view of the pandemic, were announced in July on the basis of an alternative assessment scheme.

Girls outshone boys by nearly six percentage points in the CBSE class 12 examination results. The overall pass percentage increased by 5.38 points this year.

While 83.40 per cent students cleared the exam last year, 88.78 per cent students cleared it this year.

Marks were awarded on the basis of marks scored by a student in his or her best performing subjects, according to the four-pointer assessment scheme.

Students were divided into four categories.

The first had students who sat in tests for all their subjects; their results have been declared on the basis of their performance in all the papers.

Students in the second category had appeared for more than three subjects. They have been awarded marks for subjects they did not appear for based on the average of the marks obtained by them in the three best performing subjects.

The board identified a third category of students who appeared in only three subjects. For them, the average of marks obtained in the two best performing subjects has been awarded in the subjects whose examinations were not conducted.

The students in the fourth category were mainly from the February riot-affected northeast Delhi region, where exams had to be postponed. The results of these students have been declared on the basis of their performance in the subjects they took the test for, besides their performance in internal or practical project assessment. The board also decided against announcing a merit list this year in view of the exceptional circumstances.

The number of students scoring over 95 per cent in class 12 exam this year is more than double the 2019 figure of 17,693, the CBSE said. This year, when the examinations were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the figure more than doubled, with 38,686 students scoring above 95 per cent. Similarly, the number of students who scored above 90 per cent also increased from about 94,000 students in 2019 to almost 1.6 lakh this year, it said.