Bhubaneswar: Parents and several school authorities welcomed the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) decision to cancel the Class X and Class XII examinations, scheduled to resume July 1.
Parents and teachers said that the CBSE’s decision will reduce stress among the students. Odisha Abhibhabak Mahasangha (OAM), an association of parents, welcomed the cancellation of Class X and Class XII examinations of the CBSE and ICSE boards.
“The cancellation of examinations has vindicated our earlier stand: No Vaccine-No School. In this process, we can check the spread of novel coronavirus. Now, collection of fees by schools should be stopped till the final decision of Ministry of Human Resource Development (MoHRD) on the issue,” said Rashmi Ranjan Kanungo of OAM.
The CBSE’s decision to cancel the examinations has brought some respite to the children who have been under severe mental stress for the last two months, said Bijaya Kumar Sahoo, advisor to Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya Sangathan and founder of SAI International Education Group.
Sahoo further said that the CBSE has informed the Supreme Court Thursday that Class X and Class XII examinations stand cancelled. However, the silver lining is that Class XII children will have an option to go for examinations in August or skip them as per their own decision. If the students do not appear for the examinations, then their results will be based on the marks secured in previous papers.
However, the detailed modalities in this regard would be submitted to the Supreme Court June 26, he added.
SAI International School principal Nilakantha Panigrahi said that the CBSE’s decision was awaited by many students and parents.
“We welcome this decision because many students were under stress to appear the examinations due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We are ready to accept whatever decision the CBSE will take on the issue in future,” he added.
Priyanka Singhdeo, a parent, said, “I always believe that certificate is not important in life, rather knowledge is. Unfortunately, many people in the society consider certificates as the only proof of somebody’s knowledge. The cancellation of examinations due to the Covid-19 pandemic would not have much impact on the students’ career. Any educational institute can hold a counselling session to judge the knowledge of students.”