Mayawati urges CBSE to overturn decision to hike exam fee for SC/ST students, terms step as ‘very unfortunate, casteist and anti-poor’

New Delhi: Calling the Central Board of Secondary Education’s move to increase examination fee for board examinations “anti-poor”, BSP chief Mayawati on Tuesday said the decision should be reversed immediately. “Recently, CBSE has increased the examination fee for 10th and 12th by 24 times, under which now SC-ST students will have to pay Rs 1,200 instead of Rs 50”, she tweeted. “Similarly, the fee of general category students has also been doubled. This is a very unfortunate, casteist and anti-poor decision. CBSE should take it back immediately. This is the demand of BSP”, she said in another tweet. The CBSE had recently doubled the fee of Class X and XII Board examinations from Rs 750 to Rs 1,500. According to the education board, SC/ST students in Delhi will now have to pay Rs 1,200 instead of Rs 50 earlier.