NEW DELHI: Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday wrote to Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal urging him to cancel the pending Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) examinations for Classes X and XII scheduled for July, citing rising cases of coronavirus in the national capital. He requested the Pokhriyal to declare the results based on students’ internal assessment and pre-board exam marks.
The board examinations were postponed due to the northeast Delhi communal violence in February followed by the Covid-19 outbreak. The remaining examinations of 29 subjects were scheduled from July 1st to 15.
“As I had suggested at the meeting held between the MHRD and state education ministers on April 28 that the results be declared on the basis of pre-board or internal exams, which include project work, periodic tests, term exam, etc., instead of conducting the remaining exams. I hope you would agree with me that the board exams, particularly those of Class XII are a high-stake exam for children. Subjecting them to take this exam in such an uncertain situation would be unfair on them,” Sisoda wrote in the letter.He added: “This is likely to rise to 5.5 lakh by July 31. In such a situation, if a candidate or someone in a family tests positive, he or she will have to skip the exam causing further distress.”
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Currently, there are 242 containment zones in the city which are expected to increase. At present, 251 government school buildings are being used as dry ration distribution centres, 33 schools are serving as hunger relief centres, 39 as shelter homes, 10 as transit migrant camps and 10 as quarantine centres. These schools will not be in a position to conduct the exams from July 1, Sisodia said. Delhi is planning to use the auditoriums of 242 schools to set up additional beds for Covid-19 patients and to meet the requirements of 80,000 beds.
“Holding exams in the same buildings where there would be hundreds of patients would be a serious risk for students. The school buildings cannot be used for exams. I once again urge you to let us now focus on building the confidence of parents and capacity of schools to welcome our children back to resume teaching-learning activities, whenever it is possible, instead of getting stuck with the remaining exams,” he added.