The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has waived exam fees as well as registration fees for all those students who have lost parents due to COVID-19. According to an official notification issued by the CBSE, the schools have to provide the details of such students “after verifying their genuineness” while submitting the list of candidates for board exams 2022 term-1 that is scheduled to be held in November-December.
CBSE official quotes that “The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the country adversely and keeping because of its impact on students, CBSE, as a special measure for Academic Session 2021-22, has decided that neither the examination fees nor the registration fees will be charged by the Board from the student(s) who have lost both parents or surviving parent or legal guardian/adoptive parents due to COVID-19 pandemic,”.
The notification further reads that the notification said that schools have been informed that the data collection for LOC will continue till September 30 without late fees and October 9 with late fees.
The board has also asked CBSE-affiliated schools to submit the details of such students after verifying the cases. Students are required to submit the fee before September 30 – which is the last date for schools to submit their list of Class 10 and 12 candidates to the board. A majority of schools in Delhi are affiliated with CBSE, including the 1,030 Delhi government schools.
Earlier announcement by CBSE
In 2019, CBSE hiked the board examination fee for Class 10 and 12 students in the general category in Delhi government schools from ₹375 and ₹600, respectively, to ₹1,500 for five subjects. For Class 12 students, the fee can go up to ₹2,500, including the extra amount for practicals, additional and optional subjects.
For SC/ST candidates in Class 10, the examination fee was increased from ₹375 to ₹1,200, and for Class 12, from ₹600 to ₹1,200 in Delhi government and government-aided schools. Before 2019, students from the SC/ST category were charged ₹50 and the remainder used to be reimbursed by the government to the board. Now, they have to pay the full fee.
Following the 2019 hike, the Delhi government paid the fee for over 314,000 Class 10 and 12 students in government schools that year, but it did not pay the fee last year citing fund crunch. This year, the All India Parents Association has been campaigning and asking state authorities to bear the costs.
