All class 1-8 students of CBSE will be promoted to the next level and pending class 10 and 12 exams will be conducted only in 29 subjects that are crucial for promotion and admission to higher educational institutions in view of the Coronavirus outbreak in the country, the board announced on Wednesday.

Following directives from Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, the Central Board of Secondary (CBSE) decided to promote all students from class 1-8 irrespective of whether exams had concluded in their schools before the ministry ordered closure of schools in view of COVID-19 situation.

“The board was not able to conduct exams on 8 examination days due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation. Further, due to the law and order situation in North East Delhi district the exam could not be conducted on few days. Considering the extraordinary circumstances, we have been forced to review the board’s policy in this regard,” CBSE Secretary Anurag Tripathi said.

The CBSE board has also decided to conduct examinations for only main subjects that will be required for promotion and maybe crucial for admissions in higher educational institutions.

“For the rest of the subjects, no exams will be conducted and the instructions for marking and assessment in all such cases shall be issued soon,” Tripathi added.

According to officials, the board will inform students about the schedule 10 days in advance.

“At this stage it is difficult for the board to decide and announce the new schedule for examinations. However, we will give notice of about 10 days to all stakeholders before starting the examinations,” Tripathi said.

The board also announced that it will not conduct pending class 10 and 12 examinations in foreign countries due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

“There are several CBSE schools located in 25 countries. Each of these countries are also under lockdown or have decided to close down the schools for various and different lengths of time. Under such circumstances, it is felt that the board will not be in a position to hold a different set of exams for each of these countries,” Tripathi said.

“Also, in the present situation, it will be difficult to bring the answer books to India for evaluation purposes. Therefore, the board has decided to not hold any more exams for the students of class 10 and 12 schools located outside India. The system of marking and assessment for the purpose of declaring results will be worked out by the Board shortly and informed to these schools,” he added.

The board decided to promote all students of classes 1 to 8 to the next grade in consultation with the NCERT.

“It has come to our notice that though several schools affiliated to CBSE have completed their examination, evaluation and promotion process for students who were studying in grades 9 and 11 in the 2019-20 academic session, there are several schools that have not been able to do so.

These include among others, Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navodaya Vidyalayas, State/UT government schools, private schools and schools located in India and abroad.

“All such schools have been advised to promote students of grades 9 and 11 to the next grades on the basis of all the school-based assessments including project work, periodic tests and term exams, conducted so far,” Tripathi said.

“For any child who is unable to clear this internal process(in any number of subjects), the school may utilise this period for providing remedial interventions and may give the opportunity of appearing in school-based tests, online or offline.

The promotion of such children may be decided on the basis of such tests,” he said.

In wake of COVID-19 breakout, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had last month postponed all board examinations for Class 10 and 12 scheduled between March 19 and March 31.

“All ongoing examinations of the board for classes 10 and 12, being held in examination centres in India and abroad, and scheduled between 19.03.2020 to 31.03.2020 (both dates inclusive), shall be rescheduled after 31st March, 2020,” a statement by CBSE read.

Following suit, the ICSE 2020 exams for class 10 and ISC 2020 exams for class 12 were also postponed.

Meanwhile, the latest Union Health Ministry update has put the nationwide tally of the confirmed COVID-19 cases at 1,965 with 50 deaths.