Finally to the relief of over 16 lakh students, Class 12 Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) board examinations have been cancelled for this year due to the Covid-19 situation, announced Varsha Gaikwad, school education minister of Maharashtra on Thursday. The decision was announced by the minister after the state disaster management authority gave a nod to cancel Class 12 HSC board exams owing to the Covid-19 pandemic situation.
The decision was taken considering the health and safety of students. Gaikwad said, "We have been constantly monitoring the state of the Covid-19 crisis in Maharashtra throughout the last academic year. The Maharashtra Government has decided to cancel Class 12 HSC board exams. Our stand was always clear that given the pandemic situation, the health and mental well-being of our children must be everybody's priority."
The criterion on the basis of which results will be declared for Class 12 HSC board students will be announced soon. Gaikwad said, "We will announce the criterion on the basis of which results will be declared for Class 12 HSC board students. We are committed to devising a fair and objective evaluation criterion. The date of result declaration will also be announced soon."
This decision was taken in line with the recent announcement of cancellation of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Indian School Certificate (ISC) Class 12 examinations. Gaikwad said, "In view of the importance of these examinations, we have been pushing for a uniform assessment formula across all boards in India for Class 12 students."
In addition, the state school education department will soon take a decision regarding Maharashtra State Common Entrance Test (MHT-CET) for admission to professional courses such as engineering, law, architecture, management, hotel management and catering technology.
Gaikwad said, "I once again request the Centre to vaccinate all teachers and examination staff on priority before we conduct offline board exams in future. Maharashtra has demanded that all examination staff should be treated as frontline workers."
Initially, Class 12 HSC board theory exams were scheduled to be held from April 23 to May 21, 2021. But on April 12, the state school education department postponed the HSC exams to May-end due to a surge in Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra.
