Days after the Bombay High Court slammed the Maharashtra government for cancelling the Class 10 Secondary School Certificate (SSC) board examinations, School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad, on Sunday, said that the government will inform the court about the threat to children in the third COVID-19 wave. Gaikwad had recently attended a highlevel meeting of education ministers with union Education Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal. She announced that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will be chairing a meeting in the next two days to arrive at a decision about the Class 10 SSC and Class 12 Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) board examinations.
“The health and mental well-being of children and their families must be our priority. Students and parents have been sharing their concerns about appearing for offline examinations amidst the pandemic,” said Gaikwad. “Keeping in mind the ongoing pandemic and the projection that children are vulnerable to new strains of COVID-19, the option of a ‘non-examination route’ for Class 12 students should be actively examined,” she opined.
She said the government will take a final call taking into account the interest of students. “Students have been studying in Class 12 for over 14 months. Personally, I believe that we should remove the uncertainty regarding the examinations and take a decision that is in the students’ interest,” said Gaikwad.