Amid mounting pressure over the Centre to postpone the CBSE Board exams scheduled for next month, the Education Ministry, after consultation with PM Modi, decided to postponed class 12th exams. The ministry will review situation on June 1 to decide fresh dates. However, the class 10th board exam has been cancelled by the ministry.
The announcement comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met the Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ and other senior education officials to discuss the CBSE board exams that were set to start from May 4.
For CBSE class 10 students, result will be prepared on the basis of an “objective criterion” to be developed by the Board. Any candidate who is not satisfied with the marks allocated to him/her on this basis will be given an opportunity to sit in an exam as and when the conditions are conducive to hold the exams. Last year too CBSE had devised a new scheme for class 10 students.
The decision has been taken in response to the nationwide calls to cancel the CBSE board exams by the state ministers and the board exam students. The Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal urged the Centre to cancel the CBSE board exams 2021 and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh wrote to the Centre requesting their postponement. Earlier, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi had also urged the central government to cancel the CBSE 2021 exams.
Students had been campaigning online for the cancellation of CBSE board exams. They are demanding cancellation of offline papers or a postponement for now. While many suggested replacing upcoming board exams with online assignments, others had demanded that the board exams be held in an online mode.Over two lakh students have signed an online petition demanding cancellation of board exams.
The state ministers had supported the students’ request to postpone the CBSE Board exams.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia appealed to the Centre to cancel the exams saying the examination centres can become COVID-19 hotspots or super spreader events. They had called for alternative methods for assessment.
The Shiv Sena in Maharashtra had written to the education ministry, requesting the government to develop a national consensus and possibly reschedule Class 10 and 12 CBSE and other board exams.
