The Minister for School Education, Varsha Gaikwad on Tuesday announced that the Maharashtra government has decided to cancel the SSC board exams, PTI reported.

“Given the worsening situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Maharashtra government has now decided to cancel the state board exams for class 10th,” Gaikwad was quoted by ANI. 

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This decision by the Uddhav Thackrey government comes hours after Union Education Minister Ramesh Prokhriyal Nishank confirmed that the UGC-NET exam scheduled to be held from May 2 to 17 have been cancelled in light of the spiralling COVID-19 situation in the country. 

The ICSE class 10 board exams have also been cancelled as the class 12 exams stand deferred. 

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State capital Mumbai reported 7,214 fresh COVID-19 cases, 35 deaths, and 9,641 recoveries on Tuesday, taking the case tally to 5,93,906 and the death toll standing at 12,439.

“Tomorrow after 8 PM, the CM will announce the decision on lockdown in the state,” Maharashtra’s Health Minister Rajesh Tope said.