The minister also announced that exams for classes IX and XI will also be cancelled. Students of these classes will be promoted based on marks received in the first term, she said.

The last and pending SSC examination, which was postponed due to the lockdown, now remains cancelled, state School Education Department Minister Varsha Gaikwad said on Sunday.

The minister also announced that exams for classes IX and XI will also be cancelled. Students of these classes will be promoted based on marks received in the first term, she said.

The SSC exam for Geography was scheduled for March 23, which was then postponed until a date after April 14, until when a nationwide lockdown was to stay in force. However, after Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray announced the extension of the lockdown till April 30, the decision was taken by the school education department to cancel the Geography paper.

However, the department did not specify whether average marks will be given for the Geography paper, or if only six papers will be considered for the best-of-five rule. The minister, in a video message, said a “prescribed procedure” will be followed. Officials from the department said a notification in this matter will be released on Monday.

State Board secretary Ashok Bhosale said, “We are still expecting written instructions from the board on how to go about this. We expect the directives by tomorrow.” This year, 17,65,898 students had appeared for SSC examinations.

Along with Geography exams, work experience exams, opted by for specially-abled students, have also been cancelled.

Uday Nare, a teacher at Hansraj Morarji Public School, said, “Due to the extended lockdown, there is a possibility that the assessment work will suffer. Till date, many the written papers have not reached many examiners, who are required to send it to moderator and chief moderator later. Moreover, the department has not specified how the marks for the pending exam will be calculated.”

A decision regarding pending university exams is still awaited.