The announcement of election dates has cast a cloud of anxiety over students appearing for the International Baccalaureate (IB) and Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE) school-leaving examinations on April 29 and May 4.

Schools offering the IB and CAIE held meetings on Monday, a day after the election dates were announced.

Calcutta International School, The Heritage
School, Modern High School International and Vidyanjali International School have exams scheduled on these two dates.

“We have reached out to both IB and CIE for advice and guidance,” said Tina Servaia, principal, senior school, Calcutta International School.

At Calcutta International School, about 100 students are scheduled to appear for exams on both April 29 and May 4.

“There are major exams on both dates with a large number of students scheduled to take them,” a teacher in the school said.

At The Heritage School, there would be about 20 to 30 students appearing for the IB exams, a school official said.

“We had a meeting on Monday to decide what we should be doing. As of now, we have decided that students will have to have board exam stickers on the vehicles, and simultaneously, we will speak to the local police station,” said Seema Sapru, principal, The Heritage School.

Teachers who live closer to the school will be given the invigilation duty, several schools decided in their internal meetings on Monday.

The schools would also function with “minimal staff” on these days.

“We have to ensure that the staff can cast their votes as well,” said a school head.

Vidyanjali International School will hold a meeting with parents. “We have a few students, but we have to communicate with parents and ensure that they will be able to bring their children to school for the exam,” said principal Saswati Dutta.

Both IB and CIE conduct school leaving exams multiple times a year. For IB, it is the April- May series, and for CAIE, the May-June series. The exam dates are released months in advance, several schools said.

The IB and CAIE are held in around 150 countries.

“It is unlikely that the exam dates will be changed because of a few schools. It is not that the entire country is affected, but only a few schools in Bengal,” said a senior teacher of a school.

Several other city schools that follow the Cambridge curriculum are taking the February-March series. The Cambridge School, for example, took the February-March series.

The ICSE (Class X) exams are concluding on March 30, and the ISC (Class XII), on April 6. The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations conducts the exams.

The CBSE Class X exams have concluded on March 10, and the CBSE Class XII exams will conclude on April 9.