DUBAI — The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is mulling over a change in board examination timing in the UAE and the Gulf due to traffic jams, following an appeal by a school in the emirates. CBSE officials say they are holding talks and may change the timing of Grade X and Grade XII board exams.
In March, Khaleej Times had reported the plight of four girls from The Millennium School, who nearly missed their Grade XII examinations as they were stuck in traffic for over two hours on the Dubai-Sharjah Road. The desperate and anxious students finally got out of their car and walked the distance to get away from the traffic, after which the school principal's car picked up and dropped them at the examination centre.
Following this incident, school authorities wrote to the board requesting them to consider delaying the commencing time to 10 am, an hour later than usual time, from next year.
CBSE officials told Khaleej Times they had received the request and were now in discussions. ‘We have received a request from a UAE school and a decision will be taken after discussions. We are considering the request and may change the timing,’ said a source from the board, who did not wish to be named. He said discussions were under way keeping in mind traffic woes that plague students in the UAE and the Gulf.
CBSE chairman Ashok Ganguly said it was not just one school in the UAE but several schools from the region which had approached the board.
He told IANS, an Indian news agency, yesterday, ‘Not just one school in Dubai but some other schools in the region following CBSE have appealed to us for a change in examination timing. We have received their complaint and are discussing the issues raised by them. Traffic jams have caused some problems this year in some Gulf countries. We will discuss it again and may change the timing. They have some genuine problems.’
Ganguly said the time of the examination cannot be changed in just one Gulf country and any decision will take into account the entire Middle East region. The Gulf is an important region for CBSE and the number of students appearing for Class X and XII CBSE examinations is increasing every year.
Despite repeated attempts by KT to contact Ganguly, he was unavailable for comment