Bhubaneswar, Aug 13 (IANS): Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday requested Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank to ask the CBSE to reconsider its decision of hiking examination fee for Class 10 and Class 12 students.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has recently announced a sharp hike in the examination fees of Class 10 and Class 12 students.

"The abnormal rise, specifically of the fees in respect of Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) students by 24 times has come as a shock," Naveen said in a letter to the HRD Minister.

He said the Odisha government has opened more than 200 English medium model schools affiliated to CBSE in rural areas for the benefit of economically and socially underprivileged sections of society.

"This decision is bound to result in acute hardship to them," the Chief Minister said.

Examination fee for SC and ST students under the CBSE has been increased from Rs 50 to Rs 1,200.

Similarly, General category students who were paying Rs 750 earlier will now pay Rs 1,500 for five subjects.