The Central Board of Secondary Education is considering rationalising the syllabus for Classes IX to XII for the next academic year to make up for the time lost to the Covid-19 outbreak.

“The NCERT has come out with a revised (academic) calendar for Classes I to VIII; the CBSE is assessing the situation and the lost time to rationalise the syllabus for Classes IX-XII,” a senior board official said.

The annual academic schedule has been thrown out of gear because of the Covid-19 outbreak. The CBSE and many state boards have had to postpone or cancel their board exams.

“It is difficult to decide as of now when the exams would be held but the students will be given at least 10 days’ notice,” the CBSE official said.

Several schools have been conducting online teaching during the lockdown but there had been no uniform guidelines for the exercise before the calendar was announced.

“The alternative calendar contains a week-wise plan of interesting and challenging activities, with reference to themes or chapters taken from the syllabus or the textbooks,” an NCERT official said.

“Most important, it maps the themes with the learning outcomes. The purpose of mapping themes with learning outcomes is to help teachers and parents assess the progress in the children’s learning and go beyond the textbooks.”

All the schools were closed and exams postponed at least a week before the first period of the nationwide lockdown began on March 25. On April 14, Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended the lockdown till May 3.

The CBSE has already announced it would conduct the pending examinations in only 29 subjects that are crucial for promotion and for admission to higher educational institutions. It has also announced that it will not conduct the pending Class X and XII examinations in foreign countries.