Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi

New Delhi, Jun 25: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided to cancel the pending Class 10 and 12 board exams. CBSE shared this decision in its reply to the Supreme Court. The plea was heard by Supreme Court bench led by J AM Khanwilkar seeking the cancellation of the board exams due to coronavirus.

The board took the decision based on the considerations taken into account on the reports submitted by the states and affidavit filed, SG Mehta stated to the Supreme Court. The exams were scheduled to be conducted from July 1, 2020.

SG Mehta while speaking to the court said, "Our affidavit filed half an hour back states that taking into account suggestions from states, exam for Class 10 and 12 from July 1 stands cancelled."

Meanwhile, ICSE also shared that it would follow the decision taken by the CBSE. Speaking for the petitioner, advocate Rishi Malhotra said that states like Maharashtra, Odisha and Delhi have shared their inability to conduct the exams due to the ongoing pandemic. SC Tushar Mehta spoke for the CBSE and HRD ministry in the Supreme Court.

When the schools and colleges were compelled to shut down due to the coronavirus outbreak, few papers of CBSE Class 10 and 12 board exams were left. The HRD ministry decided to postpone due to the nationwide lockdown announced on March 25 and were rescheduled between July 1 and July 15. Most exams were cancelled except 29 subjects were considered out of the remaining to be conducted.

However, due to the unprecedented rise of COVID-19 cases in the country led to concern among the parents and they immediately opposed the decision. Cases in Delhi and Mumbai which also has a large number of CBSE students led to the consideration of cancelling the exams based on the PIL filed, and the Supreme Court asking the board to reconsider on conducting the exams.