The State Education Minister Vinod Tawde announced on Tuesday that the deadline has been extended for students of Class X and XII to pay their fee for the board examinations next year.
While the last date of submission of forms for Class XII is almost over, the submission process is on for Class X students. Mr. Tawde said schools could now submit the forms to the State Education Board and pay the fee by February.
“No student will suffer because of fee payment-related problems,” Mr. Tawde said.
The decision was taken following complaints received by the Education Department from academicians about the cash crunch affecting fee payments. About 17 lakh students from Class X and 14 lakh from Class XII are scheduled to appear for the Maharashtra State Board examinations.
G.K. Mhamane, chairman of the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Examination, said, “Schools accept the Class X examination fee (roughly Rs. 425 per student) from students and pay it collectively on behalf of all their students to the State Board account via Bank of India branches. The last date for submission of forms was November 23. But, now we are asking schools to first submit the examination forms and pay the fees later.”
Some schools like G.H. High School and Junior College at Borivali have already collected the fees from students, but are unable to pay at the bank.
“We have about 450 Class X students and much of the fee money collected is in Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 notes that has now become redundant. The heavy rush and crowds at banks was also a worry. Thankfully, the fee payment extension has provided us with some respite,” said Ujwala Zare, principal of GH High School.
Anticipating the crisis after the demonetisation move, the School Principals Association submitted a memorandum to the Education Department seeking extension, said Laxman Deshmukh, Principal, Abhyudaya Vidyalaya, Ghatkopar.
“Our school reopened today after the Diwali holidays. Students were quite unprepared for this. We decided that we would not let students get affected by this,” said Mr. Deshmukh. The Class X board examinations are tentatively scheduled to begin on March 7.
The author is a freelance journalist
