Bhubaneswar: In view of the rising Covid-19 cases across Odisha, the Class 12 exams conducted by the Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) was cancelled by the Odisha government Friday. The announcement was made by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik after he held a meeting with key officials of the Education department.
“Lives of students are more precious than the examinations. All the stakeholders including students and parents across the state would have faced utter difficulties, had the examinations been conducted this year. The decision to cancel the Class 12 examinations conducted by CHSE has been taken keeping in view the larger interest and well-being of students, teachers and parents,” Patnaik said.
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Patnaik had earlier directed CHSE authorities to formulate a ‘well defined objective criteria’ purposefully for awarding marks to Class 12 students. The objective criteria will be fixed after thorough consultations with educational and career experts, within a stipulated time frame, CHSE officials said.
However, in case any student is not satisfied with the marks awarded on the basis of ‘well defined objective criteria’, he/she will be allowed to appear the examination again in offline mode for upgradation, after the Covid-19 situation improves. The dates for offline examinations will be decided by the CHSE at a later stage, the CM’s Office informed.
Notably, the decision to cancel the CHSE exams came close on the heels of CBSE deciding to call off the Class 12 board examinations across India.
PNN