Lakhs of students across the country appeared for the first day of the CBSE Class X and XII board exams on Tuesday. Students arriving with their admit cards and stationery marked the start of a month-long exercise.At Moti Bagh’s Sarvodaya Vidyalaya, parents were seen dropping off their children, offering last-minute advice and moral support for the first paper of the session.While the atmosphere at the centres remained tense, many students expressed a mix of anticipation and confidence in their preparation.Speaking to ANI, a student, Jamuna Thapa, said, “I am feeling nervous, yet excited. I’m well-prepared, but I’ll know for sure when I see the exam paper. I took coaching for this and attended extra classes. It feels good that we’ve been given the opportunity to have two board exams. Today, the first exam is mathematics.”Families have also played a crucial role in the months leading up to the examinations. A student’s parent, Dilip Kumar, said, “Today is my daughter’s first exam. We had prepared her well. I used to ask her every morning and evening about how her preparation was going. I used to tell her my exam-related experience. I had also arranged online coaching for her. Now let’s see how she performs.”Siddharth, a student from Karnataka’s Bengaluru, expressed confidence about doing well, saying that he had studied a lot throughout the year. He said, “Today is our maths paper. I have a tuition teacher. I’ve been studying a lot throughout the whole year. I’m very confident about scoring well. Let’s see what happens. It’s all in God’s hands now.”Another student, Advait Chetan, said, “For our first maths paper today, I’m pretty confident. It’s the first exam, so it’s probably going to be a little easier. There are a few more protocols, such as doing the OMR sheet. Other than that, it’s the same. There is excitement and nervousness both… I am confident I will get good marks and also, this time there are second boards also. We can opt for the second attempt.”Meanwhile, on Monday, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) announced that appearing in the first Class X board examination is compulsory for all students, and those who miss three or more subjects in the first exam will be ineligible to appear in the second examination. In a letter issued on Saturday, the CBSE clarified that attendance for the first examination was mandatory.It issued the clarification after it received several requests from students regarding their inability to attend the first board examination for various reasons, and they may be allowed to attend the second board examination.In such a situation, the letter stated that it was mandatory for all students to appear for the first board examination and that all passed and eligible students would be allowed to improve their performance in any three subjects out of science, mathematics, social science, and languages.
