Indore: Only 12.03 per cent and 14.46 per cent of registered students have filled Board examination forms of Class XII and Class X, respectively. This was shared with private schools asking them to ensure filling of forms by the Directorate of Public Education.
One of the primary reasons for this is issues with portal of Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education. Another more plausible reason is challenge of studying for Board examination post Covid-19 outbreak. Adding to the challenges faced by school students, the challenge of paying examination fee is another speed bump for children coming from underprivileged families.
Another reason for issues in the filling of exam forms this year is confusion in dates and conduct of examinations due to Covid-19 pandemic.
Additional district project coordinator Narendra Jain said, "Major challenges have come in exam form filling due to portal issues." He added that a lot of payments have been stuck.
"The Board has said that exam forms filled even with payment issues will be considered," Jain said. He added that the Board has been struggling with portal problem this year, as it failed to provide stable platform for registration.
"However, as of now, what we have heard from government school principals, most students have filled the exam forms," Jain said. He added that several government school teachers and staff have even paid exam form fees for underprivileged students.
"It is true that paying even exam fee was a challenge for many students, but as of now, teachers and school staff have contributed from their own salaries to ensure that students do not lose a year," Jain said.
Extend date to Jan, demands association: Sharing condition of students studying in private schools affiliated to MPBSE, association patron Gopal Soni said, "Due to corona, the financial condition of parents of the students is not good, so many students could not fill the exam forms, so keeping the interests of the students in mind, the date should be extended."
He added that students, who could not pay Rs 1,000 for exam form, will not be able to pay late fee of Rs 2,000 for attempting the exam as private students.
The association has urged the Board to extend the date till January 10 considering students' interest.
"Many students and parents believed that this year the government will not conduct the 10th and 12th examinations and give general promotion to everyone, so many students did not fill the form," Soni said.
