The state government on Thursday decided to cancel the state board exams for Class 10 students. The government has announced to give mass promotion to the next grade. The decision to grant mass promotion to regular Class 10 (SSC) students of the Gujarat Secondary Education Board (GSEB) was taken by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani in the larger interest of pupils and save them from getting infected with coronavirus, said a government release.
The Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board, GSEB SSC Exams 2021 was scheduled to be conducted from from May 10-25.
A decision regarding “repeaters”, students who had failed in earlier attempts and were slated to again appear for exams this year, will be taken after assessing the situation once COVID-19 cases drop, said the release. Notably, the state government has already granted mass promotion to the students of Classes 1 to 9 and also Class 11 in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has triggered a slew of restrictions on the movement of people and non-essential activities in the state.
Check official notification here
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama said “The Board examinations for Class 10, which had been scheduled from May 10 to 25, have been cancelled considering the prevailing crisis of the corona outbreak. All the regular students who were to appear for the exams in 1,276 government schools, 5,325 grant-in-aid schools, 4,331 self-financed schools, and 45 other schools will now be mass promoted to Class 11″.
“We have taken this decision, despite the number of corona cases coming down and rising number of recovery cases in the past two weeks, looking at the prevailing situation in the country and the safety of the students.”
The minister also said: “The government will once again review the situation after a considerable reduction in infection, regard the repeat students and then come out with a schedule. The students appearing for these examinations will be provided an adequate time of at least 15 days prior to the exam schedule.”
The state government had earlier announced it will conduct board exams for Classes 10 and 12 between May 10 and 25. When coronavirus cases suddenly started increasing in April, the government had indefinitely postponed the exams and said a fresh schedule will be announced in mid-May.
The government has decided to altogether cancel the board exams for Class 10 and give mass promotion to the regular students. As per a rough estimate, around 12 lakh students of Class 10 were expected to appear for the board exams this year. A decision on holding Class 12 board exams is yet to be taken by the government.
