BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday announced the postponement of all class X and Class XII board examinations in the state in view of the worsening Covid-19 situation.
Announcing the postponement of the examinations, the Chief Minister said that the decision has been taken keeping in view the safety of the students. He further announced that all schools and hostels in the state will remain closed from April 19 till further order.
While the matriculation examination conducted by the Board of Education was scheduled to begin from May 3, the plus two examinations were set to start from May 18. The Chief Minister said that a decision on conducting the examinations will be taken after improvement in the Covid-19 situation.
The state government and Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) will review the situation in the first week of June and take a decision on rescheduling the Plus Two examination, he said and added that a similar process will be followed in the case of holding of the class X (matriculation) examination by the
Board of Secondary Education.
Besides, the Chief Minister also announced that students of Class IX and XI, who have taken admission in the 2020-21 academic session, will be promoted to the next class without appearing in the annual examination.
The order of the state government will be applicable to all government, government-aided, and private schools affiliated to the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) and the Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya Sangathan. The announcement came a day after the CBSE decided to cancel the Class X board exams and postpone that for Class XII.