The BJP-led Union government was accused by the Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia over “increasing the CBSE exam fee deliberately” after the AAP-led Delhi government declared that they will pay the exam fee of every Delhi government school student.
At a press conference held on January 2, 2020 Sisodia said, “For the first time in the history of Delhi government schools, more than 1,000 students secured more than 90% in their class XII board exams. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal felicitated these students along with their parents on June 22, 2019. On that day, responding to a request by one of the students of class XII, the CM announced the Delhi government will pay full CBSE examination fee of all its class X and XII government school students. This fee was Rs 450 for general category students and Rs 125 for SC/SC students.”
He said, “This announcement would have benefitted around 3.5–3.75 lakh students. I have been informed that after this announcement, BJP leaders realised that this would bring them major loss. The earlier fee of Rs 450 was raised to Rs 1,950 for students of general category and Rs 1,650 for SC/ST category.”
This would be CBSE’s first hike in five years. “While the Delhi government is committed to bear the full fee for government school students, this move has imposed a financial burden on private school students. These families are not going to forgive BJP,” Sisodia said.
CBSE officials said that the decision to hike fee has no connection with Delhi government’s announcement. “The Board had not increased its fee in five years and was suffering financially. That is the reason fee was increased. This was also communicated to Delhi government officials at the time the decision was made, which was in August. It is surprising that the Delhi government has brought up this issue four months after the decisions were finalised,” said an official.
