Mita Mukherjee

The ICSE and ISC first semester examinations previously slated to begin from November 15 have been postponed till further notice, the Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) said on Tuesday. 

“The CISCE has decided to postpone the ICSE and ISC Year 2021-2022 Semester I Examinations due to reasons beyond our control. All stakeholders will be informed of the revised schedule of the Examinations in due course of time,” Gerry Arathoon, CISCE secretary and chief executive said in a circular issued to the heads of all ICSE and ISC schools in the country on Tuesday evening.

In a bid to establish uniformity in the system for assessing Classes X and XII students, the CISCE had announced in August that the academic session for Classes X and XII students of the 2021-22 batch would be divided into two semesters and the council would conduct an examination after each semester.

The sudden postponement of the examinations came as a surprise to schools as they had started the preparations for conducting the examinations next month, principals of many schools said.

In another circular issued today, the CISCE has informed the schools that all the meetings scheduled to be held with the school heads to discuss the modalities for conducting the examinations stand cancelled.

The programmes planned by the CISCE to train proctors, buffer proctors, super proctors and IT support executives for conducting the examinations have also been cancelled. The training programmes were slated to start from October 20.

Heads of several schools said the council has not informed them about the reasons for postponing the examinations. Some principals said schools have not reopened in some states including West Bengal and this could be one of the reasons for postponing the exams.

The CISCE had earlier announced that the ICSE and ISC first semester exams will be held online and the questions will be of only Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) type and students would be allowed to take the test either from school or from home.

Also read: ICSE, ISC students can take first semester exam from home or school