New Delhi: The Jammu and Kashmir government has postponed the Class X board exam scheduled for March 7 in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Union territory, five years after the erstwhile state’s special status was scrapped in August 2019.
Although the Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education’s order does not mention Modi’s visit as a reason, a heightened security cover has been in place in the state for Modi’s visit. “In view of unavoidable circumstances the examination of vocational subjects including agriculture, apparels, makeup and home furnishing, automotive, beauty and wellness, health care, IT& ITES, physical education & sports, plumbing/ retail, security, telecommunication, tourism and hospitality, electronics and hardware of (Class X)… have been postponed (to April 4),” said School Education Board, according to The Telegraph.
The Class X board examinations were scheduled to be held between March 7 and April 3. The dates of practicals were to be announced later.
On Thursday, March 7, Modi will address a rally at Srinagar’s Bakshi Stadium on March 7, which will be his first after the scrapping of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019. There has been controversy over the administration ordering 7,000 of its employees, including teachers, to join the rally.
The rally will be Modi’s first in Srinagar in nine years and it will also mark the beginning of the saffron party’s campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha election in Kashmir for which the BJP has not yet announced its candidates.
In what seems to be an attempt to project widespread support in Kashmir for the BJP-led central government’s decision to scrap Article 370, the administration has ordered the employees from 13 departments including education, sports, agriculture, social welfare, rural development and others to attend the PM’s rally.
