CBSE hikes exam fees for SC/ST students by 24 times

Fees doubled for general category students. Representation pic

New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has increased the fees of Class 10 and Class 12 board examinations by up to Rs 1,150, the first hike in the last five years, according to board officials. The fees for general category students for both Class 10 and 12 have been doubled from Rs 750 to Rs 1,500 for five subjects. The SC and ST students, who were paying Rs 350 earlier, will now be supposed to pay Rs 1,200 for five subjects. In a special arrangement only for Delhi, the SC/ST students were only paying Rs 50, while the balance was paid by the Delhi government.

"The increase is after a gap of five years. The fees has been increased for all categories of students in all affiliated schools of CBSE in India and abroad by a resolution if the governing body of the board," a senior board official said. The hike is applicable from the 2019-20 academic session. The students appearing for the Class 10 board exams are registered for it when they are in Class 9, and those appearing for Class 12 are registered when in Class 11.

The board notified the changes in the fees last week and has asked the schools, who had already begun the registration process and charged students as per the old fee structure, to now collect the difference in amount. According to the revised norms, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes students will have to pay Rs 1,200 for five subjects, while earlier they were supposed to pay Rs 350 for the same. On the special arrangement for the SC/ST students of Delhi, Controller of Examination Sanyam Bhardwaj said, "Earlier in Delhi, SC/ST students used to pay Rs 50 and the Delhi government paid the rest.

Now, the CBSE will take Rs 1,200 entirely from the students. If the Delhi government reimburses them or pays for them, it's an internal arrangement between schools and the Delhi government." To appear for an additional subject in the Class 12 board examination, the SC and the ST students, who were earlier not supposed to pay any extra fee, will now have to pay Rs 300. General category students will also have to pay Rs 300 for an additional subject, instead of Rs 150 earlier. "Hundred per cent visually-impaired students are exempted from paying CBSE examination fees.

The student who fails to deposit the difference in CBSE examination fee before the last date will not be registered and will not be allowed to appear in the 2019-20 examination," the official added. "This hike has brought CBSE fee at par with other central board NIOS, which charges Rs 1,800 for male candidates, Rs 1,450 for females and Rs 1,200 for SC/ST candidates," the official added. The migration fees, which was Rs 150 earlier, has also been increased to Rs 350. The students enrolled in the CBSE schools abroad will have to pay Rs 10,000 for five subjects for both Class 10 and 12. Earlier, it was Rs 5,000. For them, the fees for an additional subject in Class 12 has been fixed at Rs 2,000 as against Rs 1,000 earlier.

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