Indian schools in the UAE have cancelled grade 12 exams as Iran launches missile and drone attacks across the region.
The Central Board of Secondary Education in India announced on Sunday that all grade 12 exams scheduled between March 16 and April 10 would be scrapped across the Middle East, including in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar.
“The mode of declaration of results for class XII candidates in these countries will be notified separately,” the CBSE board said in its notification.
The authority said initially that the exams would be postponed in the Middle East, after the Iranian attacks began. The CBSE curriculum is popular among the Indian community in the region and the decision will affect thousands of pupils.
Grade 12 exams are similar to A-levels in the British curriculum and the scores determine what universities in India pupils are able to attend.
Disruption to education
Schools in the UAE switched to remote learning on March 2 as a precautionary measure, as Iran launched strikes on the country. Authorities also brought forward the spring holidays for schools and universities in the country.
The break began on March 9 and will run until March 22.
The Ministry of Education previously set out measures to assess the performance of public school pupils in the second term, owing to disruption caused by the conflict.
The ministry said on social media that second term grades "will be determined based on the continuous assessments, projects and assignments completed by students during the term".
SAT exams – a standardised digital test used by many colleges and universities in the US – in the UAE have also been affected. The College Board, which administers the exams, shared details on its website of dozens of centres in the UAE that have postponed tests due to be held from March 14 to 28.
