Will Maharashtra Government Postpone HSC, SSC Exams Amid COVID-19 Surge?

Varsha Gaikwad, the Education Minister of Maharashtra, said on Tuesday that the state ministry is going to soon come up with a final decision on the HSC and SSC exams scheduled to be held in the state.

She said that the education department is still accessing the situation before coming to a final conclusion within a week. Gaikwad told a newspaper, "I can’t say anything at this moment but, yes, a final decision will be taken this week itself. I will meet with various stakeholders and see what their views are about exams."

While the education department is still preparing for the board exams as per the pre-decided schedule, Gaikwad said that the decision to postpone the exams will be taken after the Chief Minister's Officer consents to it.

What do parents and students have to say about offline board exams?

As the state government announced earlier, the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and Senior Secondary Certificate exams (SSC) are supposed to begin on April 23 and April 29, 2021. However, a rapid surge in COVID-19 positive cases in the past few months has forced to Education Ministry to rethink its decision. Many students and their parents have been asking the state authorities to scrap the offline mode test and conduct the board exams in online mode citing the safety of children. They reportedly also demanded that the board exams be postponed till May-end for safety purposes.  A group of parents concerned about their children sitting in offline exams started an online petition on Change.org.

Maharashtra Government's plan to conduct HSC And SSC Exams:

Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad talked about two approaches for the smooth running of the board exams. The first one aka Plan A is a statement of purposes on extra times, second attempt exemption, home centres to be followed.  While the second approach aka Plan B involves postponing the board exams after the Chief Minister Office's consent. Whether the state government will go for the first or second plan will be revealed before the end of this week.