Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet with Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ and other senior officials at noon to discuss the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) exams scheduled for May and June this year.
The meeting comes amid strong demands from students to postpone the 10th and 12th grade exams, which are scheduled to start on May 4 due to the rapid spread of the coronavirus disease. Several opposition parties, including Congress and Aam Aadmi party, also lobbied the central government to postpone the trials.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday urged the center to cancel CBSE exams for grades 10 and 12, and the city has recorded nearly 13,500 cases of Covid-19.
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“The CBSE board exams are fast approaching. In Delhi, 600,000 students are scheduled for exams this year. In addition, 100,000 teachers will participate in the configuration of these exams, ”said the Chief Minister at a digital press conference.
“These (testing centers) could become Covid-19 hot spots … Several countries experiencing a second wave have also canceled these exams. Several state governments in our country have also done it in their respective state councils, ”Kejriwal added.
The Delhi Commission on the Rights of the Child (DCPCR) has also urged the CBSE to postpone board reviews or reconsider evaluation criteria given the increase in Covid-19 cases across the country.
“The board must review the situation on Covid-19 between states before responding to an appeal because CBSE cannot conduct audits in different states at different times. Furthermore, it is not possible to do any other type of evaluation or test in online mode ”, added the official.
