Maharashtra board to study CBSE formula, ICSE parents demand similar decision

Hours after the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) decided to cancel its Class 10 board exams, the Maharashtra government said it will study the board’s decision implying that it is still exploring options other than physical exams, while parents of Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) urged the board to cancel its exams

Hours after the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) decided to cancel its Class 10 board exams, the Maharashtra government said it will study the board’s decision implying that it is still exploring options other than physical exams, while parents of Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) urged the board to cancel its exams.

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In her video message sent on Wednesday afternoon, state education minister Varsha Gaikwad said, “The health of our students is our topmost priority. Keeping this in mind, we are now going to ask experts in the state to study the decision taken by CBSE today as per which exams are replaced with internal assessments.”

On Wednesday, the CBSE board announced the cancellation of Class 10 exams and the postponement of Class 12 exams across the country this year. Students of Class 10 will be marked based on an objective criterion to be developed by the board. The criteria for marking students are yet to be declared.

After the announcement, parents from ICSE urged the board to come up with a similar decision for the students of the board. “If CBSE can cancel its exams, so can ICSE. Students are already under tremendous stress and it would be great if this uncertainty is addressed altogether instead of just postponing the exams,” said the parent of a Goregaon based ICSE school.

Reema Lokesh, another parent said parents will write to the board again if a decision does not come in by Thursday. “We are hoping ICSE considers the decision by CBSE and announces a similar decision. We will wait for a day to see if an announcement comes in and will write to the authorities again if it doesn’t,” she added.

Gerry Arathoon, chief executive and secretary of the ICSE board said, “The ICSE Board will take a decision regarding the ICSE and ISC examinations, 2021 and will inform all concerned at the earliest.”

In the coming days, the state government will await guidelines from CBSE on the marking criteria for Class 10 students. An expert who works with the state government said the government will wait to see what formula CBSE arrives with. “We will see what components they consider and check the feasibility of using the same in the state board. A common formula for all boards might also help in the sense that it will address issues of equivalence for admissions in future. We hope to study the formula and will then arrive at a decision,” said the expert.

On April 12, the state government postponed HSC exams to the end of May and SSC exams to June, following which the state had written to CBSE and ICSE officials requesting postponement in their board exams. While HSC exams were earlier scheduled to take place between April 23 and May 21, SSC exams were planned between April 29 and May 20. Nearly 33 lakh students appear for Class 10 and 12 exams from state board every year.