Delhi reports a record 13,500 COVID19 cases a day; CM Kejriwal urges the Centre to cancel CBSE board exams
Six lakh children will sit in CBSE exams in Delhi. One lakh teachers will be involved in the duty. These centres can be big hotspots. I urge the central government to cancel CBSE exams, said the Delhi CM.
Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi. Photo: Social media
After reporting 11,491 new COVID-19 cases and 72 related deaths yesterday on April 12, the national capital Delhi has registered over 13,500 new cases in the last 24 hours. This was informed by the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal during a press conference today morning.
“If we observe [past] ten to fifteen days of data, we see that sixty five per cent of cases are from people less than forty five years of age. The youth is the most affected,” he said. He appealed to the youth and said: “I request you to move out only if necessary and follow all COVID protocols strictly.”
Meanwhile, Kejriwal also urged the central government to cancel the upcoming CBSE [Central Board of Secondary Education] examinations. This year, the CBSE board exams of classes 10th and 12th are scheduled to be held from May 4 to June 14 and from May 4 to June 11, respectively.
“Six lakh [600,000] children will sit in CBSE exams in Delhi. One lakh [100,000] teachers will be involved in the duty. These centres can be big hotspots. The health of children is very important. I urge the central government to cancel CBSE exams,” said the Delhi CM.
“We can come up with alternatives. We can pass them based on online and internal assessment. Many other countries and several Indian state governments have cancelled their exams,” he added.
Two back, on April 11, in her letter addressed to the Union Minister of Education Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the general secretary of All India Congress Committee, had requested the government to reconsider conducting CBSE board examination that are scheduled to be held next month in May.
Yesterday on April 12, Varsha Gaikwad, Maharashtra’s education minister, informed that the state government has postponed state board exams for class 10th and 12th. Class 12th exams will be held by the end of May, while 10th standard exams will be in June. Last week on April 3, the state government announced that all state board students across Maharashtra from Class 1 to Class 8 will be promoted to the next class without any examinations.
Also Read: Maharashtra to promote all state board students from Class 1 to 8 without exams
Meanwhile, keeping in mind the rising coronavirus cases, Kejriwal has announced that the Delhi government will merge banquet halls with big hospitals to increase the bed capacity.
“We are attaching banquet halls to big hospitals to increase the bed capacity. Less severe patients can be admitted in banquet halls. Oxygen facilities will be provided in these halls. Only serious cases will be admitted in hospitals,” he said.
The chief minister also pointed out that the government does not want to put a lockdown in Delhi, instead it promises to improve the health infrastructure which will help fight the second wave in the national capital. He has requested people above 45 years to get vaccinated in the health facilities, many of which are running 24*7 in the national capital.
Yesterday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also said he was not going to impose a lockdown in the state. In the last 24 hours, Uttar Pradesh has reported 13,604 new COVID-19 cases.