BHUBANESWAR: With the Central Board of
Secondary Education (CBSE) and Indian Certificate of Secondary Education Examination (ICSE) scrapping Class X boards for 2021, a group of students from city schools assembled at Naveen Niwas here on Tuesday to seek clarity on Class X exam to be conducted by the
Board of Secondary Education (BSE).
Though the students could not meet chief minister
Naveen Patnaik, they got the assurance from the CMO that he would look into the matter. “We are in a state of uncertainty. All national boards have cancelled exams. The students will be promoted to Class XI on the basis of the marks they got in internal tests,” said Ananya Tripathy, a Class X student.
The students first met school and mass education minister
Samir Ranjan Dash at his residence and submitted a memorandum seeking cancellation of the class X board exam.
“I had a discussion with the students and I told them that the Covid-19 situation is very serious and we are not in a position to conduct the board exams now or in a month. The
government will review the situation in June first week. I also told them that the government will take a decision in favour of the children soon, but they demanded cancellation of the exam,” said Dash.
After coming out from his residence, the students decided to meet the CM and started heading toward Naveen Niwas at 10.30 am. Wearing masks and holding sanitiser bottles, the students in their uniforms were seen marching towards Naveen Niwas.
“Our counterparts in CBSE and ICSE have started studying for the Class XI course. If we wait for the next two months for the review in June, and then if the government decides to conduct the exam, we will lose precious time,” said Manas Kumar Swain, another student. In the wake of rising
Covid cases, the state government has postponed the Class X and Class XII boards, which were scheduled to be held on May 3 and May 18. The next dates for the exams will be decided after reviewing the Covid situation in June, the government had said. Over six lakh students have registered to appear for the Class X exam.