Every year over hundreds of class 12th students apply for universities abroad, most of whom have put in years of hard work to ace admissions to their dream university. While the ongoing pandemic has been physically and mentally exhausting for the entire world, the CBSE class 12th students currently face added pressures due to the continuous postponement of the examinations.
In the past, CBSE would usually declare the results in the month of May and the process for admissions abroad went smoothly. Students would submit their final results to Universities in May, comply with the Visa requirements, and fly out in August/September when the majority of Universities start their classes. This year, however, things look very different when it has been announced recently that exams will take place between July – August 2021, which means the final results will be pushed to September 2021.
Up until now, many abroad Universities have been very supportive and have been making sure that students do not suffer over something they have no control. For example, many Canadian Universities like the University of British Columbia, York University, and Huron University College were the first to remove the requirements of submitting class 12th final results for Indian students and grant them final admissions based on predicted grades and other assessments. Despite this being a huge relief for the students, they are worried that if boards are conducted in July-August, they will not be able to fly timely for orientations and boards might also delay their visa application process.
The position for students who have applied to UK, USA, and Australia continues to be bleak. Most Universities in the UK, which is a hub for Indian students, give conditional offers (submission of board results) to get final admission. Right now students are not certain when the will result come and if Universities will allow them to submit late results.
For example, a student received correspondence from the University of Lancaster, the UK telling him that they can extend the deadline to submit final marks by 7th September, and failing to do so would lapse his admission offer. Further, the deadline to confirm and choose most offers is 1st- 10th June in the UK. Previously, students used to get results in May and then confirm to universities after seeing if they have met the conditions. This time they are having to confirm using guesswork. If they confirm to universities and don’t get the said marks, they can lose admissions.
Recently, we saw that many boards like the IB Board have cancelled the final exams and will be giving out final results on the basis of previous performance and continuous evaluations. Amongst other eye-openers that the pandemic has brought, the limitations of the CBSE exam pattern and our education system are surely one of them.
We are so reliant on the final examinations and hence it’s not going to be an easy decision to suggest alternative evaluations. Whatever decision is made, it should be made sure that it is in the best interest of the students and keeping in mind both admissions for higher courses in India and Abroad.