Assam’s Education Minister Ranoj Pegu announced on Friday that the State School Education Board has decided to cancel the remaining subjects for the Higher Secondary First Year Examinations scheduled for 2025, citing the upcoming Panchayat elections as the reason.
He stated that students who participated in the March 2025 examinations will be permitted to take the HS Final Examination in 2026, according to the board’s resolution.
In a post on X, Pegu remarked, “Given that the Panchayat Election process will continue until May 20, 2025, and considering the involvement of teachers in election-related duties, the Board has opted to cancel the remaining HS First Year Examinations for 2025. Students who took the March 2025 exams will be eligible to sit for the HS Final Examination in 2026 as per the Board’s decision.”
The board further explained, “With the announcement of the Panchayat Election dates, it is clear that the teaching community will be occupied with preparatory tasks for the election, including training polling and counting staff, conducting the election, and counting votes. According to the schedule released by the State Election Commission, the election process may extend until May 20, 2025.”
“In this context, it would be exceedingly challenging for educational institutions to conduct the examinations before the election process concludes, and holding the remaining examinations afterward would be impractical. Therefore, the Board has resolved to cancel the examinations for the remaining subjects of the HS First Year Examinations for 2025,” the statement indicated.
On Wednesday, the Assam State Election Commission revealed the timetable for the Panchayat elections, which will occur in two phases across 27 districts.
State Election Commissioner Alok Kumar informed ANI that the first phase of voting is scheduled for May 2 in 14 districts, while the second phase will take place on May 7 in the remaining 13 districts. The counting of votes for both phases is set for May 11.
Over 1.80 crore voters, comprising 90.71 lakh males, 89.65 lakh females, and 408 individuals from other categories, are set to cast their votes across 25,007 polling stations.
The nomination submission period is scheduled from April 3 to April 11 for both phases. The examination of nomination papers will take place on April 12, with the deadline for candidates to withdraw their nominations set for April 17. Elections will be conducted at the levels of Gaon Panchayat, Aanchik Panchayat, and Zilla Parishad.
