The Maharashtra education department has asked the district authorities to take a call over the shutting of schools in Maharashtra from 1 March given a rise in Covid-19 cases among students. Varsha Gaikwad School and Education Minister said it was up to the local authorities to decide whether to keep schools open given the rise in Covid 19 cases in their areas.
The decision splits the work in two. For the Class 10th and 12th exams, the minister, the district authorities and the state board now each hold a piece of it: the minister keeps the board timetable, the districts decide whether classrooms stay open, and the board has to run the papers whatever the districts choose.
“In rural Maharashtra, primary schools were recently allowed to start classes. Since in the last few days Covid 19 cases are surging, the local authorities should take the call of shutting the schools keeping the safety of the students and teachers as a top priority. Wherever the cases are rising, the authorities should disinfect those premises,” Gaikwad told the media.
Additionally, Maharashtra school education minister Varsha Gaikwad Dispelled the rumors that Amid the high rise in Covid-19 caseload the 10th and 12th board exams will be canceled. She said, that the Std 10th and 12th board examinations will be held in the state.
She denied reports that the Std 10th examination has been canceled due to the surge in coronavirus cases in the state.
Class 10th and 12th exams: Varsha Gaikwad and the board timetable
The timetable the minister is defending was set only days earlier. On 16 February the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education announced a tentative schedule: Class 12 written papers from 23 April to 21 May, and Class 10 papers from 29 April to 20 May, as The Education Daily reported. The board told students to trust only the printed schedule handed out by their own school or junior college, and to ignore versions circulating on social media.
That leaves a narrow window. Written papers are due to begin in under two months, and the state has only recently brought pupils back: primary classes in rural areas had just been allowed to restart, in the minister’s own words. Leaving closures to district administrations means the picture can now differ from one district to the next, while the examination calendar stays the same for the whole state.
Meanwhile, 325 students were detected Covid positive on Wednesday at Latur’s MIDC boys’ hostel and 229 students from Washim district tested positive on Thursday. Many teachers and students have been Kept in isolation. This surge has impacted the upcoming Budget session as well. The ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi government has curtailed the session to March 1 to 10 against the earlier schedule of March 1 to 28. The budget will be presented by Finance Minister Ajit Pawar on March 8.
The opposition has criticized this move saying that the Uddhav Thackeray government is using the Covid situation as an excuse to curtail the session as it is not interested in discussing public issues.
The overall infection rate in the state was pushed to 21,29,821 as the state reported over 8,000 cases for the second consecutive day.
Mumbai city reported 1,145 cases on Thursday, which took its cumulative figure to 3,22,844. Five persons died due to the infection in the metropolis, which pushed the toll to 11,463. With 864 new cases, Nagpur ranked second in the state in terms of daily cases.
What has happened since
The promise held for six weeks. On 12 April 2021 Gaikwad announced on Twitter that the board examinations would be postponed, with Class 12 papers moved to the end of May and Class 10 papers to June, Careers360 reported. “We’re closely monitoring the health situation. Fresh dates for these exams will be announced accordingly,” she wrote.
Eight days later the Class 10 examination was cancelled outright. “The health & safety of our students and teachers is our topmost priority,” Gaikwad said on 20 April, adding that criteria for the results would follow, Scroll.in reported. A government resolution of 28 May set the formula: in each subject, 30 marks from written assessments during the year, 20 from oral, practical or internal work, and 50 from the Class 9 final result, according to a LiveLaw report of the court hearing that followed.
The cancellation was challenged in the Bombay High Court. On 20 May a bench led by Justice S J Kathawalla had said, “In the name of the pandemic, we can’t spoil the career and future of our children.” But on 3 June a division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni allowed the public interest petition to be withdrawn, telling the petitioner, “It’s a matter of policy, and the executive has taken a decision,” LiveLaw reported.
The petitioner was left free to challenge the evaluation method instead. In the same hearing the Advocate General told the court that an optional common entrance test for Class 11 admissions would be open to students of every board, whether state, ICSE, CBSE or IB.
The same day the state called off the Class 12 examination as well, with Gaikwad saying the decision had been taken to safeguard students’ physical wellbeing and mental health, according to IANS. By then, for the Class 10th and 12th exams, the minister, the district authorities and the board were planning marks rather than sittings. Class 10 results were declared on 16 July for about 16.58 lakh registered students, 9,09,931 boys and 7,48,693 girls, AglaSem reported, citing the minister.
Here is how the year unfolded for the Class 10th and 12th exams:
| Date | Step |
|---|---|
| 16 February 2021 | Board announces tentative schedule: Class 12 from 23 April, Class 10 from 29 April |
| Late February 2021 | Minister says the papers will go ahead and leaves school closures to districts |
| 12 April 2021 | Both examinations postponed |
| 20 April 2021 | Class 10 examination cancelled |
| 28 May 2021 | Government resolution sets the 30, 20 and 50 mark formula |
| 3 June 2021 | Class 12 examination cancelled; High Court petition withdrawn |
| 16 July 2021 | Class 10 results declared |
