The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations on Tuesday decided to cancel Class 12 board examinations this year in view of the COVID-19 situation, according to its secretary Gerry Arathoon.
"The exams have been cancelled. The alternative assessment criteria will be announced soon," Arathoon said.
The decision by the CISCE came after the central government announced cancelling the Central Board of Secondary Education Class 12 board exams following a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It was decided that the CBSE will take steps to compile the results of Class 12 students as per a well-defined objective criteria in a time-bound manner.
In an official order issued on Tuesday night, the CISCE said, "In view of the present situation of the Covid- 19 Pandemic in the country, the CISCE has decided to CANCEL the ISC (Class 12) Year 2021 examination. The safety, health and wellbeing of our students, teaching faculty and all stakeholders is our topmost priority and of paramount interest."
"The results will be processed on a mechanism which will also include the internal examinations conducted by the schools. The schools will be informed in due course of time, of this mechanism," it added.
After the declaration of the Class 12 results, if some candidates are not satisfied with the marks awarded to them, the CISCE will give an option to such candidates to write the exams at a later date, when the situation is conducive to conduct the same.
The CICSE had last week asked its affiliated schools to submit data, including average of marks obtained by Class 12 students in Class 11 and during this session.
The board had postponed Class 12 exams which were scheduled from May 4 in light of the devastating second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
