COVID-19: Remaining Higher Secondary board exams cancelled

The West Bengal government on Friday decided to cancel the remaining Higher Secondary examinations in the state, that have been re-scheduled twice and were to be held on July 2, 6 and 8.

State education minister Partha Chatterjee said that the decision has been taken, and the method of marking students on the remaining papers will be decided shortly. This will be announced soon. The government will also try to announce the results by July 31.

The examinations were being conducted from March 13, but the last few papers – which were scheduled to be held on March 23, 25 and 27 – had to be postponed indefinitely at that point due to the outbreak of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) and the subsequent lockdown and closure of educational institutions. A new schedule was fixed earlier for June 29 but had to be changed again as there was no sign of improvement in the COVID-19 situation, along with the cyclone Amphan aftermath.

Though the examinations were being scheduled with centres closer to the homes of examinees, along with maintaining social distancing norms and use of sanitizers and masks while writing their papers, there was a general feeling among parents, schools and the board that the situation is not conducive for examinees.

With the ICSE and CBSE board examinations cancelled, the Bengal education department followed suit.

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