Students of Delhi government and aided schools will not have to pay any fees for Class 10 and 12 CBSE examinations and the cost will be born by the city dispensation, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia announced on Tuesday, 13 August.
The decision was taken by the Delhi government following an announcement of a fee hike by the Central Board of Secondary Education. Sisodia also said the government is in discussion with CBSE to roll back the fee hike.
“Students in Delhi government schools and aided schools will not have to pay any fees for CBSE Class 10, 12 exams. Delhi government will bear entire cost for all categories of students, modalities being worked out,” Sisodia told PTI on the sidelines of an event.
The CBSE had earlier written to the Delhi government asking them to not let children bear the brunt of the fee hike.
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE FEE HIKE
The CBSE last week notified an increase in the examination fees for Classes 10 and 12, registration fees for Classes 9 and 11 and migration fees.
The examination fee for SC and ST students under the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has been increased from Rs 350 to Rs 1,200.
The fees for general category students have been doubled from Rs 750 to Rs 1,500 for five subjects. They will have to pay Rs 300 for an additional subject in the Class 12 board examination, instead of Rs 150 earlier.
The fee for practicals for Class 12 too has been raised by Rs 70 per subject. Instead of Rs 80, now they will have to pay Rs 150 for each practical.
The hike is applicable from the 2019-20 academic session. The students appearing for the Class 10 board exams are registered for it when they are in Class 9, and those appearing for Class 12 are registered when in Class 11.
The board notified the changes in the fees last week and has asked the schools, who had already begun the registration process and charged students as per the old fee structure, to now collect the difference in amount.
Hundred per cent visually-impaired students are exempted from paying CBSE examination fees.
The migration fees, which was Rs 150 earlier, has also been increased to Rs 350.
The students enrolled in the CBSE schools abroad will have to pay Rs 10,000 for five subjects for both Class 10 and 12. Earlier, it was Rs 5,000. For them, the fees for an additional subject in Class 12 has been fixed at Rs 2,000 as against Rs 1,000 earlier.
WHAT THE CBSE IS SAYING
A clarification issued by the CBSE said, “It's clarified that the board has increased Board exams fee pan India and not especially for Delhi. This increase is after a gap of 5 years. The fee has been increased for all categories of students in all affiliated schools of CBSE in India and abroad,”
"This hike has brought CBSE fee at par with other central board NIOS, which charges Rs 1,800 for male candidates, Rs 1,450 for females and Rs 1,200 for SC/ST candidates," the clarification added.
(With inputs from PTI)
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