Several CBSE schools are planning to adjust their academic calendars to accommodate the second Class X board exam, tentatively scheduled in May.

A second exam implies that schools will need teachers to conduct the exam, and will also have to send them for the evaluation of answer scripts.

According to the tentative timetable shared by the CBSE, the second Class X board exam is scheduled to start on May 15 and end on June 1, which means it will overlap with the summer vacation.

Schools usually close in the second week of May for summer, but if it is scorching before that, schools are forced to shut down even earlier.

“We will have to push back our summer break. For the board exams, we usually have four schools coming to our centre. If teachers are on leave, how will we conduct the exam?” said Loveleen Saigal, principal, Birla High School.

The school has not yet finalised the dates, but plans to tweak the summer vacation dates from what they are every year.

“We are waiting for the final timetable before finalising the change in the academic calendar,” said Saigal.

Usually, schools finish one round of assessment in July after the students come back from the summer break.

“We will have to make adjustments in the academic calendar, keeping in mind the second Class X board exam,” said Jaidev Ghosh, principal, South Point High School.

Most schools ready their calendar by November-December because the school diary will have to carry the academic calendar, according to which both teachers and parents plan their holidays.

Some schools said they are planning a staggered holiday for teachers, and might put teachers on a roster duty.

“A section of teachers who are on leave from the beginning of the summer vacation might have to report to duty towards the latter half,” said Anjana Saha, principal, Mahadevi Birla World Academy.

“However, it will also depend on the number of students applying for the exam from our centre,” said Saha.

BDM International School, too, said teachers would have to be on rotation for the exams.

“When teachers would go for evaluation, we would have to rework our activity calendar. If senior school teachers are out of school, we would have to concentrate on activities for middle and junior school and postpone senior school activities for July-August,” said Madhumita Sengupta, principal, BDM International.

“If there are exams, teachers will have to report, but we will try and give some breathing space to teachers so that their entire holiday is not taken up,” said Sengupta.

In most schools, summer vacation is the only long leave that teachers get in a year.

“We don’t know how many students will want to write the second board exam, but we anticipate there will be a section of students who would want to do so to better their scores,” said Saigal.