Following the cancellation of CBSE class 10 board exams, the CBSE class 12 board exams were also cancelled in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday. The board examinations have been one of the most important examinations for the students.
The decision was taken considering the safety of students amid the coronavirus pandemic. It was also decided that the results will be made as per a well-defined objective criteria in a time-bound manner. It is expected to be in line with the decision made in April for the CBSE class 10 board exams.
After the decision, PM Modi said that the CBSE class 12 board examinations were cancelled in the interest of students due to uncertain situation created due to pandemic. During the review meeting, the officials presented their views on the subject in details.
PM Modi said, “The health and safety of our students is of utmost importance and there would be no compromise on this aspect. The anxiety among students, parents and teachers should come to an end. In today’s time, such exams cannot be the reason to put our youth at risk. Students should not be forced to appear for exams in such a stressful situation.”
The government had been thinking about the issue for the long time. There were high-level meetings conducted by PM on board exams. A high-level meeting was conducted on May 21, where ministers and officials attended. Then, a meeting was conducted in the chairmanship of Union Defence Minister on May 23. It was attended by the education ministers of the states. There was a discussion on various options for the implementation of CBSE exams. Feedback was taken from the states and UTs.
On Tuesday, the meeting was attended by different ministers including Home, Defence, Finance, Commerce, Information & Broadcasting, Petroleum and Women and Child Development Ministries and Principal Secretary to PM, Cabinet Secretary and Secretaries of School Education and Higher Education Departments and other officials.
Before the decision, there were also demands from the students to cancel the board examinations for quite some time. The decision on the board exams was quite awaited and students were waiting anxiously for it. As a matter of fact, #cancelboardexams2021 was trending on Twitter for long time.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was very vocal about the cancellation of the board examinations. He had asked the government to cancel the class 12 board examinations and had suggested the board to evaluate the performance of the students on the basis of past performances. He had also put forth an idea that all the students should get vaccines before appearing for examinations.
Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had also written to the Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal urging him to cancel the class 12 board exams due the pandemic and said that children will be subjected to great injustice if they are pushed into circumstances that endanger their lives.
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) had also written a letter to the central government to cancel the class 12 exams. In the letter, FICCI had cautioned the government about the worsening of Covid situation. The matter was in court as well. The Centre had informed the Supreme Court on Monday that it will take a final decision within the next days about the possibility of class 12 exams.
However, just a day prior to the decision, an RSS affiliated body had also written to PM Modi to ensure the class 12 board examinations. They had suggested different ways to conduct the examination. They suggested change in the pattern of exam to objective and allow exams to be conducted at home.
On April 14, the CBSE had announced the cancellation of class 10 board examinations and postponed the class 12 examination as the coronavirus cases continued to surge all across the country. Since then, class 12 examinations were a hot topic of discussion.
