Maharashtra postpones state board exams of class 10, 12 amid COVID-19 surge

By Team Newsable | First Published Apr 12, 2021, 5:41 PM IST

Class 12th exams will be held by end of May, while 10th standard exams will be in June. The state government would write to the ICSE, ISC, CBSE, IB and Cambridge boards to reconsider their dates for class 10th and 12th examinations, the School Education Minister said.

Mumbai: Maharashtra has postponed the state board exams for classes 10 and 12 amid the Covid surge. The class 12 exams will now be held by the end of May and the class 10 exams in June, state School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad said today.

The exact dates will be announced based on the developing situation, which the administration is monitoring, she said.

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"Given the current Covid-19 situation in Maharashtra, we have postponed state board exams for class 10th and 12th. The present circumstances are not conducive for holding exams. Your health is our priority," Gaikwad said in a video statement issued on her social media handle.

As per the now-scrapped schedule, Maharashtra Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams for class 10th students were to be held from April 29 to May 20, via the offline mode, and the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) exams for Class 12th were to be conducted from April 23 to May 21.

Last week, the state government had announced that all students in Class 9 and Class 11 will be passed without taking exams, while a similar decision was taken for the students of Class 1-8 earlier in the month.

The decision to postpone the exams was based on consultations with various stakeholders such as students, teachers, parents, elected representatives from across parties, academicians, and tech giants, she said.

"During the consultations, various alternative assessment options were evaluated keeping the health, well-being and future of our students in mind. Postponing exams seemed to be the most pragmatic solution," she said, thanking Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray for "his guidance".

"We'll also be writing to the CBSE, ICSE, IB, Cambridge boards, requesting them to reconsider their exams dates," she said.

Scores of students in the state, along with a section of opposition parties, had demanded the government to defer or cancel the examinations in view of the health crisis.

The Union Education Ministry has so far refrained from postponing the dates of CBSE examinations. The class 10th and 12th exams for students affiliated with the central board are scheduled to begin from May 4 and continue till mid-June.

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