Bhubaneswar: The annual matriculation and Plus II examinations 2021 will be held offline in Odisha, not online, informed the State School & Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash today.
“As the CBSE has announced regarding the Class X and XII board examinations that will be conducted in written mode next year, the State Government will also hold the examinations accordingly,” the Minister told the media.
However, he made it clear that examinations will be delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic.
“It is not possible on the part of both Board of Secondary Education (BSE) and Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) to conduct the matric and Plus II examinations in February and March respectively because many students are far off getting online education during closure of schools due to pandemic. As the School & Mass Education Department is considering to reopen the schools for the students of Class IX onwards, the board examinations can only be held after resumption of classes offline,” Dash said.
It is to be mentioned that the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC), Odisha, has clearly mentioned in its guidelines that the academic institutions under control and supervision of School & Mass Education Department can reopen for the classes 9-12 as per SOP issued by the concerned department.
“We will take decision keeping the students’ interest in mind as per the COVID guidelines,” the minister said.
Earlier in the day, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) said that the board examinations of 2021 will be conducted in the conventional written mode.
“The board examinations of 2021 will be in the regular written manner and not online,” the CBSE stated.
The dates of examination, however, have not been decided yet, the officials said.