Decision on Class 12 exams in Maharashtra to be taken in a week: Gaikwad

Maharashtra School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad on Sunday said a decision on Class 12 exams in the state which have been postponed earlier will be taken in a weeks time and added that the option of a ldquononexamination routerdquo should be explored in view of the ongoing pandemic situationShe was speaking to reporters after participating in a meeting convened by the central government to decide the fate of the pending Class 12 board exams and the subsequent entrance exams which were postponed in view of the second wave of Covid19The Maharashtra government has already cancelled Class 10 exams of the state boardAlso Read Decision on Class 12 board exams to be taken at the earliest Education MinisterldquoThere are 25000 CBSE students and 14 lakh state board students of Class 12 in Maharashtrardquo Gaikwad saidThe chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has called a meeting on Monday with the school education department and a decision regarding Class 12 exams will be taken in a weeks time the minister saidThe Bombay High Court had on Thursday come down heavily on the Maharashtra government over the cancellation of Class 10 exams saying it was making a mockery of the education system A division bench of Justices S J Kathawalla and S P Tavade had sought a reply as to why the decision to cancel the state board exam should not be set asideWhen asked about it Gaikwad said the government will inform the high court regarding the cancellation of Class 10 exams saying the prevailing pandemic situation was unprecedentedldquoKeeping in mind the ongoing pandemic situation the projection that children are vulnerable to new strains of coronavirus an option of a nonexamination route for Class 12 students should be actively examined Health and mental wellbeing of children their families must be our priority Students and parents have been sharing their concern about appearing for exams amid the pandemicrdquo Gaikwad said in a tweet laterSince most professional courses hold entrance exams for admissions many experts are of the view that it is possible to evaluate performance of Class 12 students based on the retroactive assessment model the minister addedStudents have been studying in class 12 for over 14 months Personally I believe that we should remove the uncertainty regarding exams amp take a decision that is in students interest she saidldquoOur focus should now be in evolving a UNIFORM ASSESSMENT policy VACCINATION of all teachers amp eligible students amp safe resumption of schools colleges campuses for the next academic yearrdquo Gaikwad tweetedFor CBSE schools Centre has sought feedback from states on two options it has proposed for the conduct of exams Ive given our initial feedback but have conveyed that will hold further deliberations with the chief minister and legal experts on both CBSE and our own board exams she addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever