The Bhutanese Leading the way.
If the COVID-19 situation deteriorates and prolongs in more than 50 percent of schools in the country by 14 March 2022, then the Bhutan Council for School Examinations and Assessment (BCSEA) will conduct examination only for class XII, based on the rescheduled examinations timetable.
For class X, the Continue Formative Assessment (CFA), Mid-Term and Trial marks will be translated for final marks for certification by BCSEA. Schools will submit the marks as per the format, timeline and guidelines provided by BCSEA.
While for those schools that did not conduct the trial examinations, the Department of School and Education (DSE) will coordinate with the Dzongkhags/Thromdes to facilitate the conduct of the trial examinations for class X. However, if this is not possible due to the inevitable COVID-19 situation then their final marks will be proportionally calculated from their CFA and Mid-Term marks.
Currently, the Ministry of Education (MoE) has rescheduled the examination date for class X and XII on 28 February till 12 March 2022, and seven schools offering BCSEA TVET and 16 schools offering BHSEC Computer Studies will start the practical examination from 26 February 2022.
MoE has notified all schools to prepare for examinations either in self-containment mode or walk-in (as day-scholars) from home, as per the feasibility of the schools and approval of the Dzongkhag/Thromde Task Force depending upon the local situation coordinated by Dzongkhag/Thromde Education Officer.
Parents and the local task force are to support and facilitate the safe conduct of the examinations, transportation of the students and examination-conducting officials. For the safety of the students, DeSuups will be deployed in all the examination centers.
All the walk-in students and examination-conducting officials will have to mandatorily take the RT-PCR test prior to starting the examinations and their movement should be restricted to their schools and homes.
The schools that are feasible to operate in self-containment mode will be facilitated, and all the stranded students will be facilitated to appear for their examinations from the nearest examination centers.
The supervising examiners appointed by BCSEA and invigilators appointed from within the dzongkhags/thromdes will conduct the examinations as per the COVID-19 safety protocols.
If there is a sudden surge of COVID-19 cases a few days before or during the conduct of examinations in regions and reinforced lockdowns, in such event, those affected schools will be postponed and examinations will be conducted using the standby questions when the situation improves based on the advice of the Dzongkhag/Thromde COVID-19 Task Force.
And if there is a surge of COVID-19 cases during the examinations, the subject/paper for both the level of examinations will be suspended for the affected schools, and will continue with the standby questions when the situation improves.
However in both the cases, those unaffected schools will continue their examination as scheduled.
Meanwhile, the marking will be done centrally in containment mode in the venues as identified by BCSEA to maintain fairness and consistency. Marking camp will commence from 18 March to 8 April 2022. The BHSEA/LCSC XII will be declared on 18 April and BCSEA/LCSC X on 24 April.
In a situation where there is a surge in COVID-19 cases immediately after the completion of the examinations, the class X marking will be decentralized to the schools based on the SOP and timeline given by the BCSEA, and class XII markings will be done centrally in containment mode by BCSEA.
Depending on the situation, BCSEA will decide the dates for marking and declaration of the result.
