Odisha CM Waives Fees for Students Appearing in Board Exam
The matric exam is scheduled to begin in the state from 3 May.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday, 12 January announced that no fee will be charged from students appearing in the Matric examination which is scheduled to begin in the state from 3 May, PTI reported.
In the greater interest of the students, the state government decided to waive the fees for the annual examination, conducted by the Board of Secondary Education. This step was also taken keeping in mind the adverse impact caused due to COVID-19 on the livelihood of the people across the state.
"The state government will bear Rs 27 crore on this account and more than 6 lakh students will be benefitted," the chief minister was quoted as saying by PTI.
For filling up the forms, a fee of Rs 420 is to be submitted by every candidate who will be appearing in the annual high school certificate examination.
Since education sector is one of the worst hit sectors due to the pandemic, Patnaik said that no student will be denied the opportunity to appear in the annual board examination for class 10th due to financial constraints, reported PTI.
An appeal to waive the examination fee was made by State President of the ruling BJD’s students wing Debi Ranjan Tripathy.
Due to the pandemic, most of the students are finding it difficult to pay the examination fee while filling up the forms, Tripathy was quoted as saying by PTI.
Due to COVID-19 outbreak, free transportation and accommodation arrangements were made for the students appearing in NEET,JEE exams by the state government late last year.
Buses were provided to carry NEET and JEE exams students from their home town to the designated test venues in September last year.
(With inputs from PTI)
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