Gujarat board cancels Class 12 exams a day after releasing revised date sheet

Gandhinagar: The Gujarat government on Wednesday announced the cancellation of Class 12 board examination, news agency quoted state education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama as saying. This comes a day after the Centre cancelled the Class 12 exam of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

The state government had announced on May 25 that the Class 12 board exam will be held from July 1, but the decision was rescinded on Wednesday.

The decision to cancel CBSE Class 12 exam was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in which it was decided that the CBSE will take steps to compile the results of Class 12 students as per a well-defined objective criteria in a time-bound manner.

Many state governments had welcomed the Centre's decision to cancel Class 12 examination. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the announcement has come as a big relief.

"I am glad 12th exams have been cancelled. All of us were very worried about the health of our children. A big relief," he tweeted on Tuesday.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray expressed gratitude towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the decision, a statement issued by the state's communications department said.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said it was an important step to ensure the health and safety of students.

After the announcement about CBSE board exams, the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) also decided to cancel Class 12 board examinations this year in view of the Covid-19 situation.

"In view of the present situation of the Covid- 19 Pandemic in the country, the CISCE has decided to CANCEL the ISC (Class 12) Year 2021 examination. The safety, health and wellbeing of our students, teaching faculty and all stakeholders is our topmost priority and of paramount interest," the CISCE said in a statement.

"The results will be processed on a mechanism which will also include the internal examinations conducted by the schools. The schools will be informed in due course of time, of this mechanism," it added.