The Chief Executive and Secretary of the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) as in a written letter to all chief ministers of the country seeking permission to open schools partially from January onwards, especially for class 10 and 12 students, who will be appearing for the board examinations.

It has Chief Election Commissioner of India to share information regarding the poll schedule of the states where elections are due in April and May, so that the council can finalise the datasheet of the exams accordingly.

“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all schools have been closed from March 2020 till date. However, despite the closure, most of our schools have continued with the teaching and learning process in an online, offline or blended manner, as indicated by a survey conducted by CISCE on the status of online teaching, assessment and completion of syllabus,” said Gerry Arathoon, Chief Executive of CISCE.

“For the final run-up to the examinations, CISCE has requested the chief ministers of all state governments and UTs to allow schools to reopen partially, specifically for the students of classes 10and 12 from January, 2021,” he added.

“With the students physically attending school, this time will be utilised for practical work, project work, SUPW work and for doubt clearing lessons. This will be extremely beneficial to the students who will now get the time to interact directly with their teachers,” he said.

Arathoon reassured that if allowed to reopen, the schools will be asked to follow the guidelines of the state governments regarding the Covid-19 situation, and to conform to the safety norms as well as the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) of the health department to curb the spread of the virus.

“CISCE has also requested the Chief Election Commissioner of India to share the election dates of the states that are due to have their elections in the months of April - May next year,” he said.

“This will enable CISCE to finalise the schedules for ICSE-Class 10 and ISC-Class 12 year 2021 examinations and to ensure that there are no clash of dates, interruption of the examinations or any inconvenience that may be faced by the candidates taking these examinations,” Arathoon added.

Schools across India were shut down in March amid the outbreak of Covid-19 but were allowed to reopen from October 15. However, some states decided to keep them closed in view of the rising number of cases.

The board had to cancel its pending exams in March due to the spike in Covid-19 cases and the result was declared on the basis of an alternative assessment scheme.