Maharashtra decides to cancel HSC exams

The Maharashtra government on Wednesday decided to cancel the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinations for Class 12 students

The Maharashtra government on Wednesday decided to cancel the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinations for Class 12 students. An in-principle decision was taken in the state cabinet after most ministers supported the move, considering serious concerns over the health and safety of the students. The state school education department on Wednesday moved a proposal to the state disaster management authority headed by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to take the final decision, officials said. A formal announcement is expected after the nod by the authority.

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School education minister Varsha Gaikwad indicated that they are in favour of cancelling the Class 12 examinations. She said their priority is the health and safety of students and has also welcomed the Centre’s decision to cancel the CBSE Class 12 exams declared on Tuesday.

Around 1.5 million students appear for the Class 12 exams in the state every year.The state government has already decided to cancel the Class 10 (SSC) examinations due to the prevailing Covid-19 situation. It has also decided to promote the students by evaluating their performance in Class 9 and 10.

“There are 1.5 million students who will appear for examinations and they also require a large number of teaching and non-teaching staff to complete the examination process. We are not in a state to take such a big risk considering the Covid cases across Maharashtra, hence it was decided to cancel exams this year,” said a senior minister, wishing not to be named.

On Tuesday, in a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it was decided the CBSE Class 12 exams would not be held this year.

A few states such as Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, too, have cancelled their Class 12 examinations.

“We informed the state cabinet about the decisions taken by the Central government and a few states pertaining to Class 12 exams. We have moved a proposal to the state disaster management authority to take a decision in this regard as all such decisions have to be approved by it considering the unprecedented situation,” Gaikwad said on Wednesday after the state cabinet meeting.

“Our stand on this issue has been clear since the beginning. Health, safety and mental stress of the students need to be considered before taking such a decision. We had clarified our stand in a meeting of education ministers of all the states chaired by the defence minister Rajnath Singh and have also welcomed the decision of cancellation of Class 12 exams. The same has been proposed before the disaster management authority,” she clarified when asked further.

“The school education minister placed a proposal of cancelling the Class 12 board exams and all the ministers expressed their support, owing to the prevailing Covid-19 conditions. It was then decided that it should be approved by the disaster management authority as epidemic disease act was invoked in the state and accordingly the high court will also have to apprise about the decision as it is hearing petitions related to exams,” said a senior official, privy to the development.

Class 12 examinations were scheduled on April 23 and were cancelled till May-end, owing to a surge in Covid-19 cases and subsequently, the lockdown restrictions imposed to arrest the spread.

The state government had last year invoked the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 and Disaster Management Act, 2005 to contain the Covid-19 situation and thus all decisions that are related to the pandemic will have to be approved by the state disaster management authority, said an official.