SC/ST students to pay ₹50 exam fee, govt will pay rest

The board had recently hiked the examination fee for SC/ST candidates from ₹375 to ₹1,200 for Class 10 students and from ₹600 to ₹1,200 for class 12 students in Delhi government and aided schools.

After facing criticism from several quarters, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Tuesday restored to the earlier practice of charging only ₹50 as examination fee from Class 10 and 12 students belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes category in Delhi government schools. The Delhi government will cover rest of the fee, CBSE said.

For students belonging to general category in Delhi government schools, the fee was increased from ₹375 to ₹1,500 for Class 10 candidates. (Amal KS/HT PHOTO)

The board had recently hiked the examination fee for SC/ST candidates from ₹375 to ₹1,200 for Class 10 students and from ₹600 to ₹1,200 for class 12 students in Delhi government and aided schools. For private schools in Delhi, the fee for SC/ST candidates was hiked from ₹750 to ₹1,500.

“Earlier, Delhi government students paid ₹50 online and the remaining amount was paid to the CBSE by the Delhi government. This time, the entire fee was proposed to be paid online, which would later be reimbursed by the state government. However, after consulting stakeholders, we are now going back to the old process of payment of ₹50 online,” Sanyam Bhardwaj, CBSE’s controller of examination said.

He added that for payment of difference of increased fees per candidate, the board will take up the reimbursement with the state government once the number of candidates is finalized.

“The HRD ministry had asked us to look into the issue since SC/ST students were worried. We therefore came to this conclusion,” said CBSE secretary Anurag Tripathi .

Delhi government officials were unavailable for a comment.

On Monday, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia had said he had directed the education department to work out a formula so that students did not have to pay the increased fees. For students belonging to general category in Delhi government schools, the fee was increased from ₹375 to ₹1,500 for Class 10 candidates. For class 12 candidates under general category, the examination fee was hiked from ₹600 to ₹1500 for five subjects. The examination fee for these candidates will remain the same.

The board had said the fee was increased due to multiple reasons, including “self-sustenance” and to maintain “quality in examination, evaluation and overcome the financial deficit.” An increase in number of evaluators and 5,000 new observers necessitated the fee hike, CBSE officials had added.