The Ministry of Education (MoE) is contemplating over its proposal to postpone Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) board examinations for students studying the 10 and 12 standards after criticisms and protests. The ministry along with the board had organised a sit down yesterday in which they held a detailed discourse over the conduct of the board exams. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has repeatedly asked the Modi Government to postpone the exam in view of COVID-19 lockdowns. PM Narendra Modi has also been criticised for his advise to the students on first attempting the tough questions in exams instead of the easy ones during the ill timed event Parikasha Pe Charcha during.
It has been learnt from sources within the ministry that as on now there have not been any plans made to do away with this year’s board exams. Despite the meeting not coming to any consensus on exam cancellation, there were deliberations over its postponement.
As of now CBSE boards are to be conducted in the month of May, however with the nationwide scourge of the second wave of the Coronavirus the ministry is re-contemplating the conduct of the board exams. A new set of COVID-19 guidelines are also anticipated for release.
The demand for postponing of CBSE boards in light of the pandemic has been a longstanding demand by key stakeholders such as the students, teachers, and parents. Many of them had cited their views of the same on social media platforms like Twitter. Numerous political leaders including opposition leader Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, had also pushed for exam postponement.
The Maharashtra State Board had recently stated its desire to postpone its exams and wrote to contemporary education boards like the CBSE, Indian Certificate of Secondary Examination (ICSE), International Baccalaureate (IB), Cambridge boards to consider postponing their board exams as well.
Shiv Sena leader Arvind Sawant has written a letter to Ramesh Pokhiryal Nishank, the education minister asking for a uniform policy for exams across different educational boards and states. He highlighted that amid the rising cases of the Coronavirus, there needs to be a common decision taken by the ministry at the center to ensure that no student finds themselves at a disadvantage.