The Council for Indian School Certificate Examination on Friday said that the Class 10 and Class 12 exams had been rescheduled as the earlier dates clashed with the Assembly elections in five states. The Indian Certificate of Secondary Education exams (Class 10) have been postponed by 10 days, while the Indian School Certificate papers (Class 12) have been advanced by a week. They were slated to begin from February 6.

The Class 10 ICSE papers will now begin on March 10 and end on April 21, while the Class 12 ISC exams will begin on January 30 and conclude on April 26. As per the previous timetable, the Class 10 arts paper 1 was scheduled for February 11, the day the first phase of polling will begin in Uttar Pradesh.

The revised schedule was uploaded to the council’s official website. “The candidates will now have the benefit of added study time,” said Gerry Arathoon, the CISCE chief executive and secretary. A total of 2,50,871 students are expected to sit for these exams.

On January 9, the Central Board of Secondary Education had announced that the Class 10 and Class 12 board exams had been rescheduled to begin on March 9. The Class 10 papers will go on till April 10, while the Class 12 exams will be held till April 29. CBSE said in a statement that “all possible efforts” were taken to ensure that there was a “reasonable time gap” between the major papers.

The Assembly polls begin in five states – Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa, and Manipur – from February 4.