The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) Chief Executive Gerry Arathoon said the exams have been postponed till March 31.

CBSE, HRD ministry’s National Testing Agency and all universities have also postponed exams till March 31.

The Council for ICSE and ISC has postponed all exams between March 19 and 31 due to the Novel Coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic threat. The council said the revised dates will be announced later once the situation improves.

“In view of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) spreading across the country and with much uncertainty and speculation in the air, the Council, in the interest of the health and well-being of the students and the teaching community, has taken the decision and said in a statement today.

“The revised dates for the conduct of the remaining papers shall be notified in due course of time,” the council’s chief executive and secretary Gerry Arathoon said in the statement.

On Wednesday, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), the National Testing Agency of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), and all universities postponed exams until March 31.

The ICSE 2020 exam was scheduled to end on March 30 and the ISC 2020 exam was to end on March 31.

 The heads of schools are required to ensure that all concerned candidates, teachers and parents are informed immediately.”- ”CISE has released the notice’.

In addition to the CISE notification, not only board exams but the Ministry of Human Resource Development has asked all schools, universities and other institutes to cancel all scheduled exams and entrance exams till March 31.

This is what the CISCE said in its notification:

“In view of Covid-19 spreading across the country, and with much uncertainty and speculation in the air, the Council, in the interest of the health and well-being of the students and the teaching community, has decided to postpone all ICSE and ISC 2020 exam scheduled to be conducted between the period March 19 to March 31, 2020.

The number of people in India infected with the highly contagious Novel Coronavirus or COVID-19 has risen to 169, the Health Ministry has said, news agency Press Trust of India reported.

This number includes three who have died. The government has given several advisories asking people to avoid crowded places and stay at home as much as possible in order to prevent the spread of the disease.