12th Board Examination

The move came a day after a cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, in which all ministers of the ruling Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress unanimously spoke in favour of cancelling the exams. Gaikwad said in a statement that the decision has been taken to safeguard students' physical wellbeing and mental health in view of the pandemic.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that this year the 12th board examinations will not be conducted. Children's life is precious for us, we will take care of their career later. It is not advisable to put mental burden on children at a time when the state and the whole country is reeling under such a big health crisis.

Although they are still recognised as students of Class 12, however their schools and coaching centres have now gone busy teaching the new batches which have been promoted from class 11 to 12 in April itself.

Attorney General K.K. Venugopal, urged the top court to give him time till Wednesday to come with a decision on cancelling class XII board exams due to pandemic. A bench comprising Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari told the AG, "you take a decision, but if you are departing from the decision taken last year in connection with the exams, then you must give us good reasons."

"Cancellation of exams will be unfair for those students who have studied hard to get admission in their dream institutes. "Also, there needs to be a proper criteria to evaluate the performance of students. So we are looking for a favourable situation to conduct the exams," he said speaking exclusively to IANS.

"Exams play a crucial role in the life of the students and will be remembered for the rest of their life. Hence, the CBSE and other boards should think of organising exams in the country. The present situation is not ideal to organise examinations but it can announce the date at least. The CBSE also has an option of taking online examinations of Class 12,"

Delhi government-run and private schools of the national capital to discuss and solicit suggestions on the matter. "Keeping in mind the severity of the second wave of the pandemic and the emergence of new variants like black fungus etc., many students, teachers and their families are apprehensive about holding the Class XII board exams.

"While a broad consensus was there, however, it was decided that states and the Union Territories may like to further examine the matter and send their feedback in writing by May 25, 2021," the Education Ministry said in a statement. Charing the meeting, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh requested states and UTs to submit other suggestions, if any, to the Education Ministry by May 25.