The MSBSHSE class 10 exam will be held in June. (File) Maharashtra Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad today announced postponement of SSC and HSC exams due to spike in Covid-19 cases. In a series of tweets, she said, “Given the current Covid-19 situation, we’ve postponed the state board exams.” Meanwhile, the entrance exams for professional courses and class 12 board exams will be held by May end, while class 10 exams will be held in June. However, final dates are still to be worked out. “We’re closely monitoring the health situation. Fresh dates for these exams will be announced accordingly,” she tweeted.
The decision was taken at a meeting with CM Uddhav Thackeray. Gaikwad said, “The CM expressed concerns about students health amidst rise in Covid cases in state. Therefore, exams scheduled this month April have been postponed.”
Gaikwad further said the decision is the “outcome of consultations with various stakeholders — students, teachers, parents, elected representatives from across parties, academicians and tech giants.” She said during the consultations, various alternative assessment options were evaluated keeping the health, well-being and future of our students in mind. “Postponing exams seemed to be the most pragmatic solution,” she said.
Keeping in mind the schedule of entrance exams for professional courses,class 12th exams will be held by end of May, while 10th standard exams will be in June. We're closely monitoring the health situation. Fresh dates for these exams will be announced accordingly (2/5)
— Varsha Gaikwad (@VarshaEGaikwad) April 12, 2021
The state education minister also requested the central boards to reconsider the exam dates. “We’ll also be writing to the CBSE, ICSE, IB, Cambridge boards, requesting them to reconsider their exams dates,” she tweeted.
A few days ago, state Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad had announced that the oral and practical examination for HSC will be held between April 5 and April 22, while the written examination will be from April 23 to May 21. Oral and practical examinations of Class X (SSC), will be held from April 12 to 28 while the written exam will be from April 29 to May 20.
Over the last few days, there have been numerous rumours regarding changes in the examination schedule due to the rising number of Covid-19 cases. Recently, a few websites ran opinion polls on whether board exams should be held as per schedule and later ran reports on the results, confusing parents and students.
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