Delhi to pay CBSE board exam fee of its govt school students

New Delhi: The Delhi cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal under which the government will pay the examination fee of students appearing for class 10 and 12 Central

New Delhi: The Delhi cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal under which the government will pay the examination fee of students appearing for class 10 and 12 Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) examinations from Delhi government schools. The decision will benefit over 3.14 lakh students and will cost the state exchequer ₹57.20 crore per annum, the government said.

In a meeting chaired by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, the cabinet approved the education department’s proposal of paying examination fee of class 10 and 12 students of government and government-aided schools, including taken-over schools and patrachar vidyalayas. “The scope and coverage of this decision is to give complete subsidy to students towards CBSE board examination fee,” the government said in a statement.

Earlier, under a special scheme, students studying in Delhi government schools — which are affiliated to the CBSE — used to pay ₹50 online and the remaining amount was reimbursed to the CBSE by the Delhi government. An official from the education department, requesting anonymity, said this time around students would not have to pay anything.

The Directorate of Education will remit the total examination fee directly to the CBSE through Heads of Schools concerned. “This includes fee payable towards practical exams for the science stream as well as vocational subjects opted by students of class 12. No fee shall be collected from students on account of CBSE board examinations,” the government said, adding that the scheme will be implemented from this academic session.

The announcement came after the CBSE hiked its examination fee last month. The fee of class 10 and 12 students belonging to the general category in Delhi government schools was increased from ₹375 and ₹600, respectively, to ₹1,500 for five subjects. For SC/ST candidates in class 10, the examination fee was increased from ₹375 to ₹1,200 and for class 12, from ₹600 to ₹1200 students in Delhi government and aided schools.

The board had said the fee hike was due to multiple reasons, including “self-sustenance” and to maintain “quality in examination, evaluation and overcome the financial deficit.” Increase in the number of evaluators and 5,000 new observers necessitated the fee hike, CBSE officials said, adding that there was no hike in the past five years.