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Maharashtra cancels HSC exams, students may be promoted
The Maharashtra government has officially decided to cancel the higher secondary certificate (HSC) exams owing to the prevailing Covid-19 situation and concerns related to a potential third wave
The Maharashtra government has officially decided to cancel the higher secondary certificate (HSC) exams owing to the prevailing Covid-19 situation and concerns related to a potential third wave. The decision was taken during a state disaster management authority (SDMA) meeting chaired by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday. State relief and rehabilitation minister Vijay Wadettiwar confirmed the development.
State school education minister Varsha Gaikwad said, “The priority of the Maharashtra government has always been the safety of students, and all our decisions in over a year were taken with the same approach. We are aware about the stress that parents and students are going through, as on one hand there is a fight against the pandemic and on the other, there’s exam pressure. Considering all these aspects, we have decided to cancel Class 12 board exams.”
Gaikwad said experts have suggested that they should hold internal assessments to evaluate students’ performance while promoting them. The state school education department will now formulate a policy in this regard. “A policy pertaining to revised internal assessment and results date will be declared soon,” added Gaikwad.
Around 1.5 million students appear for Class 12 exams in the state every year.
The state government has been in favour of cancelling the board examinations. It has already cancelled the Class 10 (SSC) exams. The state decided to promote Class 10 students based on their performance in Class 9 and 10 through internal assessments. It also decided to conduct an optional common entrance test (CET) for admissions to junior colleges. Those who clear it will get priority in the admissions. The rest of the seats will be used for students who were cleared by the state board in the evaluation process.
Officials said that Class 12 students of state board are also likely to be promoted based on internal assessments. “We will have to come up with a policy for promoting Class 12 students. More or less, it is likely to be similar to what has been declared for Class 10,” said a senior official from the education department.
“My department is committed to conduct an accurate evaluation of the students,” Gaikwad said.
During a discussion in the state cabinet meeting on Wednesday, all the ministers supported the decision to cancel Class 12 exams in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Earlier, the state had welcomed the Centre’s decision to cancel the Class 12 exams of the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) board. The decision was taken on Tuesday in a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Around six states, including Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, have also cancelled their respective state board’s Class 12 exams.
“Health, safety and mental stress of students need to be considered before taking any decision. This has been our stand since the beginning and we made it clear in a meeting of state education ministers chaired by defence minister Rajnath Singh,” Gaikwad said.
The state had scheduled Class 12 exams on April 23. They were pushed to May-end due to surge in Covid-19 cases and the lockdown restrictions. The state had last year invoked the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, and Disaster Management Act, 2005, to contain the Covid-19 situation and thus all decisions related to the pandemic have to be approved by the disaster management authority, said an official.
