Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Manish Sisodia has written to Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank', to overturn the Central government's decision to conduct the exams in the remaining subjects in the Central Board of Secondary Education's (CBSE) class 10 and class 12 board examinations.
On 18 May, the HRD Ministry had announced that the CBSE will conduct examinations to 29 remaining subjects between 1-15 July.
In his letter, Sisodia said that subjecting students to exams in such an uncertain and anxiety-prone situation would be unfair to them. He added that making arrangement for these exams will be difficult in the COVID-19 scenario, especially in Delhi, where the number of COVID positive cases are expected to rise to 5.5 lakh by end-July.
The deputy chief minister also raised concerns on how students residing in containment zones, or those whose family members have tested COVID-positive are expected to reach their examination halls.
He further said that hundreds of school buildings and school infrastructure in Delhi were being used for COVID-relief operations as dry ration distribution centres, hunger relief centres, shelter homes, migrant camps etc. He also said that the government has planned to use the auditoriums of about 242 schools to set up 80,000 beds for the hospitalisation of the COVID-affected.
Keeping these circumstances in mind, Sisodia said that Delhi will not be in a position to free up its schools for the CBSE examinations between 1-15 July.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday, 17 June, asked the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to clear its stand and provide clear guidelines on the conduct of pending board examinations by 23 June. The apex court issued these directions while hearing a petition filed by a group of parents, who had asked for the pending examinations to be scrapped.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)