Schools are adjusting timetables, arranging substitute teachers and suspending morning assemblies as the Class X and XII semester 2 board exams are set to start next week, at a time when in-person classes are on in full swing after two years.
Schools are telling students in classes other than the board years that certain areas on the campus will be out of bounds for them during the exams and that they have to maintain silence.
Before the pandemic, the rest of the school also had final exams at the same time as board exams. This year, it is the beginning of a new session in most schools.
“We have to be strict with discipline duties and restrict students to certain areas so that noise does not disturb the board examinees,” said Jessica Gomes Surana, principal, Loreto Convent Entally.
South City International School has put up boards on the campus so that non-board students do not go near the auditorium where the exams will be held. “Children have been instructed not to make noise or run in the corridors,” principal John Bagul said.
With auditoriums and halls demarcated for board exams, morning assemblies have been suspended and students are praying in their classrooms.
“We have made arrangements because the halls are being used for exams so some activities that usually take place in the halls are now being held in classrooms,” said Rupkatha Sarkar, principal, La Martiniere for Girls.
Teachers have invigilation duty in other schools for ICSE (Class X) and ISC (Class XII) so schools have drawn up timetables for substitute teachers since lessons for other classes are on.
“Some regular classes would be hampered because teachers have invigilation duty,” said Terence John, principal, Julien Day School Kalyani.
The ICSE exams will start on April 25 and ISC on April 26. The CBSE Class X and XII exams start on April 26.
One CBSE school will conduct online classes for all students except Class XII on board exam days.
“In-person classes will be conducted only on gap days till the summer vacation,” said Meena Kak, director of Lakshmipat Singhania Academy.
