The ICSE (Indian Certificate of Secondary Education) on Friday deferred the board exams of classes 10 and 12 in view of a rise in COVID-19 cases across the country, PTI reports. 

“In light of the nationwide surge in coronavirus cases, the class 10 and 12 exams which were to be held from May 4 have been deferred,” the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations’ chief executive and secretary Gerry Arathoon said.

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“We will closely monitor the situation and review it in the first week of June to take a final decision on conduct of examination. While class 12 exams will be conducted at a later stage, class 10 students will get an option to either appear in offline exams later or get evaluated on basis of fair and unbiased criteria to be developed by board,” Arathoon added.

Earlier this week, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had cancelled its class 10 board exams and deferred the class 12 board exams. Several state boards have postponed or cancelled their exams too.