Govt to pay CBSE exam fee of 3.14 lakh students

New Delhi: The Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, chaired by Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, came to the conclusion that Delhi government will pay the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) examination fee of Class X and XII students of government, government-aided schools, including taken over schools, and Patrachar Vidyalaya.

Students will be exempted from CBSE Board exam fee — a sum of Rs 1,800 per head for classes X and XII — from the academic session 2019-20 onwards.

This decision is based on the Department of Education's proposal to take off the load of examination fees from struggling students and parents. This will collectively benefit 3.14 lakh students of class X (1,79,914) and XII (1,33,802) and will cost the government around Rs 57 crore annually.

A house-help worker, Sumi Garai, breathed a sigh of relief after the announcement. "My husband and I barely make ends meet. We cannot afford a private schooling for our 11-year-old daughter Lata hence, we send her to a government school. We are glad that the government has done away with exam fees."

Earlier, Head of Schools would collect this fee from students and remit to CBSE usually during the month of September. But now, Directorate of Education will remit exam fees from students of government and government-aided schools along with taken over schools and Patrachar Vidyalaya, and directly compensate the CBSE through the Heads of the respective schools.

The remittance will include fees for practical exams for science stream and vocational subjects of class XII students.

All the students of classes X and XII studying in government schools, government-aided schools, including taken over schools, and Patrachar Vidyalaya will be covered under the scheme.