Mumbai : Barely three weeks before the scheduled exams, HSC (Class 12) students in the state are still unsure about whether or not their exams will take place amid high Covid-19 infections and the resultant lockdown. Students said the state government’s delay in declaring the status of exams is causing severe anxiety and confusion at the last minute. “We have been studying for the entire year and still do not have any clarity on whether or not exams would take place offline. The government should not wait anymore and should announce its decision immediately,” said an HSC aspirant.

On April 12, the state government had postponed HSC exams to the end of May and SSC exams to June. However, following CBSE’s decision to cancel Class 10 exams and a similar decision from ICSE, IGCSE and IB there was growing pressure to cancel exams from students and parents to ensure equivalence across boards which is key at the time of admissions to colleges. On April 20, Class 10 exams were declared cancelled by the state government and students will now be marked based on internal assessments. However, the government continued to say that HSC exams will be conducted as per the schedule. Over the last several days, the education department has been holding numerous consultation meetings with various stakeholders including schools, teachers and parents to come up with a formula for internal assessments. However, a decision on the formula and the conduct of Class 12 exams is yet to be arrived at. “Meetings are on and an announcement in this regard will be made soon,” said an official from the education department. Many students urged the education department to cancel exams for Class 12 altogether. They also participated in a Twitter storm recently with a hashtag- #cancel12thboardexams.