Maharashtra government cancels Class 10 board exams amid worsening COVID-19 situation

Amid the virus surge in Maharashtra which tops the list of states with COVID-19 cases, the state government has decided to cancel the board exams of class 10. In a video message on Twitter, the state's School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad has announced that the decision has been taken in the face of the COVID-19 crisis that has gripped the state. She added that the criteria to pass the students will be discussed in future meets and duly communicated.

After Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's meeting on April 12, it was decided that the Board exams of Class 10 and 12 will be postponed, however, it has now been decided that class 10 exams stand cancelled while Class 12's will be postponed, Gaikwad said in the video message followed by a series of tweets.

"Government will also discuss about those students who may be expecting higher grades or marks but got less during assessments or have issues with the fairness of their assessments, the government will see in future if exams are to be held for such students or any other option to be explored," Gaikwad said.

Maharashtra government's decision comes after other boards such as the CBSE and the ICSE which cancelled their class 10 exams while postponing class 12's. In a meeting held on April 14, Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with Education Minister Pokriyal and other government officials, keeping in mind the surge in COVID-19 cases, cancelled the CBSE board exams for class 10 and postponed the board exams of class12. 

Following the decision of CBSE bard to cancel Class 10 board exams, Council for the Indian Schools Certificate Examination (CISCE) on Monday also cancelled its class 10 board examinations in wake of the current COVID-19 situation across the country. Meanwhile, ICSE in its circular has also mentioned that the status of class 12 board exams remains the same that these exams will be conducted (offline) at a later date. Earlier, it had given Class 10 students the option of writing the exam online or offline at a later date. Now it has asked for Class 11 admissions to begin in ISC sector schools.

ICSE Class 10 board examination has also been cancelled due to the worsening situation of the Coronavirus pandemic, the board said on Tuesday. The decision has come days after it had made the exam optional.

Maharashtra recorded 58,924 Coronavirus cases on Monday, taking the State's COVID-19 tally to 38,98,262. At present, there are 6,76,520 active cases in the State. With 52,412 COVID-19 patients discharged in the day, the number of recoveries soared to 31,59,240.