Releasing the date sheet, the first-term board exams for Classes 10 and 12 will be conducted in the offline mode from November 29 and 12 respectively, the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) announced.

The exams will conclude on 16 from Class 10 (ICSE) and 20 December for Class 12 (ISC)."

Earlier, the Class 10 and 12 exams were scheduled to begin from 15 and 16 November.

"The CISCE has been in receipt of numerous mails from heads of schools, parents and students who had expressed their difficulties and apprehensions if first semester exam were to be conducted online," said CISCE Chief Executive Gerry Arathoon to PTI.

Arathoon said the major reasons cited by students and parents for not conducting online exams were unavailability of devices, irregular power supply and network and bandwidth problems.

"After much deliberation, we decided that the exams will be conducted in offline mode in their respective schools. Detailed guidelines will be announced shortly," he added.