Rajasthan government cancels RBSE Class 10 and 12 board exams amid rise in COVID-19 cases

The Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education (RBSE) exams for classes 10 and 12 have been cancelled by the Rajasthan government. The decision to cancel RBSE exams was taken at a meeting presided by the Chief Minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday. The decision brings relief to 12,14,512 students of Class 10 and 8, and 82,112 Class 12 students. Govind Singh Dotasra, Rajasthan’s Minister for School Education, also tweeted that the decision to cancel board examinations has been taken due to the speculations about the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. He also informed that the evaluation criteria will soon be shared by RBSE. The cancellation of the RBSE board examination comes after the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) cancelled the exams for class 12 in a meeting held recently. The RBSE (BSER) Class 10 and 12 exams were earlier supposed to be conducted in April, however they were postponed. On the other hand, considering the situation caused by the second wave of the coronavirus, the Rajasthan government had promoted students in Classes 1 to 9 and 11 without taking any examination this year. Ministers also discussed support packages for students whose parents have died due to COVID-19. Although the Centre has announced a package for students, the minister said that it will only be available to them when they turn 18. Dostara said that the finance department will be preparing a package that could help students currently. It was also discussed that families of labourers in the state should be given Rs 1,000 soon. Previously, they were given Rs 1,000 in April by the state government.