Dubai: The start of the next academic year for CBSE grade 11 students in the UAE will be delayed due to the postponement of grade 10 board exams by one week because of elections in India, teachers said on Tuesday.
The Central Board of Secondary Education, to which most of the Indian schools in the UAE are affiliated, delayed the commencement of the board exams of grade 10 and 12 students, in view of assembly elections taking place in five Indian states.
The exams were supposed to start from March 1. They will now be held between March 9 and April 10 for grade 10, and between March 9 and April 29 for grade 12.
This will result in a delay of more than one week in starting the new academic year for the grade 10 students who will go to grade 11 in April.
Since the academic year here begins in April, the grade 10 students in the UAE are provisionally promoted to grade 11 before their board exam results are announced by the end of May, ahead of the new academic year in June in most schools in India.
Since these students will have to appear for exams till April 10 this time, their grade 11 classes can only begin after that while all other classes are scheduled to commence from April 3.
Speaking to Gulf News, teachers said this will affect the completion of syllabus. Moreover, they pointed out, students require a break of a few days after the exams. “They are rigorously preparing for the examinations and they deserve a few days’ break after the exams. They used to get at least four or five days’ break earlier,” said one chemistry teacher.
If schools consider this, it is mostly likely that their classes will start on April 17.
“That will be a loss of 10 working days. Even if the classes start on April 11, the very next day after exams, we would lose six working days, which is still a big loss for grade 11.”
A mathematics teacher said: “We have a specific curriculum to complete within specific number of periods. Definitely, this will affect the completion of syllabus.”
Rashmi Nandkeolyar, principal of Delhi Private School in Dubai, expected schools to make adjustments to manage the situation. “Sometimes they may have to hold extra classes.”
She said most schools are likely to start grade 11 classes immediately after the grade 10 exams since they would not want to lose time.
However, Ashok Kumar, CEO of The Indian High School, felt this will not result in major loss of teaching time.
A member of CBSE governing body, Kumar said the postponement of the exams will not affect students here since results will be declared on time. “There is no big loss of teaching time, which the schools are usually worried about,” he said.
Some teachers said the delay is also likely to upset the plans of several grade 12 students who wish to join entrance coaching classes in India.
“These students will get less time to prepare for their entrance tests compared to students from other state boards, who will finish their exams early,” said one teacher.
