The Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) has asked its affiliated schools to provide details on how the institutions are used by the Election Commission to conduct the general elections.

 

The schools have been asked to inform the council whether their premises are taken for serving as polling booths and counting centres and whether their teachers were engaged for doing election-related work. The schools are required to submit the details through an online form within November 20, principals of several schools said.

 

According to school heads the information has been sought by the council to finalize the time-table for 2024 ICSE and ISC exams which are supposed to start in end -February and continue till April.

 

The next general elections are slated next year and since the Lok Sabha polls are usually held in April-May, there is a likelihood that the council which has schools affiliated to it across the country, will set the exam schedule after receiving the information  it receives from the schools, according to several heads.

 

“The council is likely to announce the dates of commencement of the 2024 ISC and ISC exams and the detailed exam schedule after it gets the confirmation from the government that no poll is held in the period the council plans to conduct the exams,” the principal of a  school in Kolkata told EducationWorld preferring anonymity.

 

The council is not likely to finalise the exam dates without getting the confirmation about the election schedule to avoid clashing of dates between the examinations and polls, the principal said.

 

Until 2019, the council would publish a draft time table in November and the final routine in mid-December. This practice was stopped from 2020 when only the final routine was published in mid- December.

 

Several schools said this year too, the council is likely to announce the dates of commencement of the two board exams and the detailed exam schedule in December.

 

But, according to the heads, since the elections are slated in middle of next year, many students and guardians are keen to know whether the ICSE and ISC exams are going  to be delayed or held before the usual time because of the polls.