The ICSE (Class X) and ISC (Class XII) exams have been deferred at least till the first week of June, the ICSE council announced on Friday.

The ICSE candidates will be given the option of writing an offline exam along with Class XII students or not writing, a choice that several teachers said was “unfair” and will further “confuse and stress out” students.

The ICSE council said the Covid situation would be closely monitored and the deferment of the ICSE and ISC 2021 examinations will be “reviewed and a final decision on the conduct of the board exams be taken by the first week of June”.

“While the ISC examination (Class XII) will be conducted at a later date, the candidates for the ICSE (Class X) examination will be given the following options:

i) To write the offline examination, along with the Class XII candidates

ii) Not to write the offline examination," reads a statement issued by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE).

The statement has been signed by Gerry Arathoon, the chief executive and secretary of the council.

Teachers and parents said the council should come out with one decision rather than giving students a choice.

“Students are as it is stressed because of the pandemic and the delay in exams. The choice will add more stress and confuse them,” said Devi Kar, the director of Modern High School for Girls.

The ICSE and ISC exams were scheduled to begin on May 4.

“In view of the ICSE (Class X) candidates opting for the second option, the CISCE will develop a fair and unbiased criterion while preparing the results of such candidates,” Arathoon’s statement said. Students are anxious about how they will be assessed because schools followed different modes of examination in the pre-boards and some schools offered different modes to its own students.

“Schools have followed different modes of examination and the evaluation of students have been different across institutions and sometimes different even within institutions,” the head of a reputable school in the city said.

“The system (of preparing the results) should be adopted that would maintain parity across institutions. It should not be based on one particular exam but should be based on the year-long assessment of students,” said Basanti Biswas, the principal of Calcutta Girls’ High School.

Many students and parents felt that the exercise of choice will depend on circumstances in their neighbourhood or family.

“Some students may prefer to write the offline exam but cannot afford a private vehicle to go to school,” a teacher said. Many people are avoiding public transport amid a renewed surge in pandemic.

One school head said there were different ways of assessing a student and promotion should not be based only on one two-hour pen-and-paper exam.

Schools also felt that the delay in the decision on examinations will eat into the class time of Class XI. Usually, the session for Class XI starts before the results of Class X exams are declared.

The council has not specified how many days students will get between the announcement of the dates and the start of the examinations. The CBSE has mentioned that a notice of at least 15 days will be given before the start of the examinations. “A clear decision would help schools to start Class XI and save the loss of learning time for the year ahead,” said Kar.