Bhubaneswar: In a major development, the Odisha School and Mass Education Minister on Wednesday cancelled the annual HSC Matric examinations, just a day after facing backlash from class 10 students for delaying in taking a final decision in this regard despite a grave resurgence in cases of Covid-19 infections.
“After reaching a conclusive decision following detailed discussions with all stakeholders, we are cancelling the annual class 10 examinations conducted by the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) and the Odisha State Board of Madrasa Education in view of the worsening pandemic situation,’ School and Mass Education Minister Sameer Dash informed the media at a presser.
The results of the Class 10 will be published as per the criterion prepared by the respective boards. In case of any disagreement with the results, students will be given chance for examination only after any improvement in the Covid pandemic situation, said Dash.
Similarly, the Director of Secondary Education, as the President of Odisha State Board of Madrasa Education will also take appropriate steps for awarding alternate mode of marks to the students who are supposed to appear in Madrasa Board Examination, read the official notification issued by the State School and Mass Education Department.
“This was the first exam of our career and we have been working hard for matric since a year. The decision is disheartening. But after the CBSE and ICSE Class 10 exams were cancelled, the decision was not much surprising for us,” said a Class 10 students of Chahata Nagar in Cuttack.
“We have been preparing for the exams for a year. This will affect the psychology of the students. However, there were no alternatives to break the chain of the virus,” said another student.