After Centre scraps exams, Gujarat government follows suit in cancelling state board Class 12 exams

Taking a cue from the Centre's decision to scrap the CBSE Class 12 board exams amid the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, the Gujarat government on Wednesday decided to cancel the upcoming state board exams for class 12 students.

The state government had recently announced that the class 12 board exams for students of general and science streams will be conducted from July 1 by adhering to the COVID-19 protocol.

"The state government decided to scrap the exams for class 12 of the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Board (GSHSB) after taking into consideration the Centre's decision to scrap the exams for class 12 students of the CBSE given the coronavirus pandemic," state Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama told reporters after attending a Cabinet meeting in Gandhinagar.

Approximately 1.40 lakh students of the science stream and 5.43 lakh students of the general stream were expected to appear for the board exam.

"As Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced the cancellation of the CBSE exam for class 12 in the larger interest of students, our government has also decided to cancel the state board exam, which was scheduled to start from July 1," Chudasama said. He said Gujarat will follow the Union government's guidelines for the future course of action. The Central government on Tuesday decided to cancel the CBSE Class 12 board exams at a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi amid the continuing COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

Chudasama said the state government had not taken any decision yet about the "repeater" students of class 10 and class 12. He said the forthcoming academic session for schools, starting June 7, will be conducted through online mode due to the pandemic situation. As of Tuesday, Gujarat's tally of COVID-19 cases stood at 8,10,730 while the overall death toll was 9,855, as per the state health department.