The Union Education Minister Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ has been admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi after facing post-COVID complications. He had earlier contracted the COVID-19 but resumed office after recovery. With the education minister unavailable, a decision on conducting class 12 exams is unlikely today.
The Union Minister was expected to make an announcement regarding the CBSE Class 12 exams today i.e June 01. However, due to his bad health this seems to be impossible now and students may expect some more delay in the announcement. In his previous meeting with the education ministers of all the states on May 23, Ramesh Pokhriyal had asked states to submit their suggestions on how class 12 exams will be conducted. After attending the high-level meeting chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, the education minister had said that an informative and collaborative decision will be taken by June 01.
Students across the country are demanding the cancellation of the class 12 board exams. A PIL has also been filed in the Supreme Court by Advocate Mamta Sharma asking for directions to the Center, CBSE, and the CISCE to cancel class 12 exams. The Supreme Court adjourned the hearing in the matter to June 03 after the Attorney General appearing for the Center informed that the Government will come up with a final decision in two days.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and many states including Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, are in favour of conducting class 12 exams. According to PTI sources, the CBSE has proposed to conduct the exams of class 12 between July 15 and August 26 and declare the results in September. CBSE has proposed two options to conduct the class 12 exams, one is to conduct the exams for 19 subjects at the allocated centres and the second one is to cut short the duration of the exam and let students appear from the schools they’re enrolled with.
Some of the states have already confirmed that they will be conducting the class 12 exams for the students who are enrolled with the state board. States including Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra are advocating for the conduct of class 12 exams. CBSE on April 04 had announced the cancellation of class 10 exams and the postponement of class 12 exams. The decision was taken after the surge in Coronavirus cases across the country. The results of class 10 students will be announced based on their internal assessment.
