The National Examination Board (NEB) has decided to conduct Grade XII examination in home centers (respective colleges) across the country, where students will have to be physically present to take the test, after Chhat festival.

Member Secretary of NEB, Durga Prasad Aryal, informed that the approval of improvised written examination and publishing the examination schedule has reached the final stage.

As per the decision for written examination, 40 percent marks is allocated to be dependent on short examination, 40 percent on equivalent marks obtained in Grade XI, and the remaining 20 percent will be given on the basis of internal assessment.

Meanwhile, the nature and style of practical examination will remain the same as before. The marks for practical examination conducted by respective colleges should be sent to the Board.

“The Cabinet has given approval to conduct Grade XI examination in person. The Ministry of Education has asked to conduct the examination by formulating appropriate work procedure,” said Aryal adding, “We are preparing to publish the examination schedule before Dashain along with the procedure of conducting the examination.”

The Cabinet meeting, held two weeks ago, had granted permission to conduct all postponed exams, including of Grade XII.

The Board has stated that the examination will be conducted by keeping only a certain number of candidates in each room and in compliance of health safety protocol.

Internal evaluation will be done on the basis of the students’ attendance, internal examination marks, homework, and extracurricular activities.

The Grade XII examination, originally scheduled to be held in April/May 2020, has yet to be conducted due to complications brought about by COVID-19. The Board had earlier proposed that the exam be conducted in phases, marks of Grade XI be added to Grade XII results, and a short online examination be included.

After the examination is over, the Board is said to publish and verify the results. Before this, NEB had issued the certificates for Grade X on the basis of internal evaluation while it has been decided that Grade XI exam will be conducted by respective colleges and results will also be released by the colleges.

While various colleges have not been able to host Grade XI exam due to the spread of COVID-19, many others have started teaching-learning activities in Grade XI for new academic session.

The delay in conducting Grade XII examination has affected enrollment in under-graduate colleges and universities. In the past, the admission process would already have started before Dashain festival after the results of Grade XII were published.

This year, as many as 432,000 students from across the country are expected to sit for Grade XII exam.