Covid-19: Students in Assam urged to get vaccinated before boards

GUWAHATI: Even as chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma urged all board examinees to get vaccinated before their examination in mid-March, state education boards expressed inability to stop non-vaccinated candidates from appearing for the tests citing the Centre's stand on vaccination. Recently the Union government told the Supreme Court that vaccines are voluntary.


Senior officials in the state education department said only about 18% of the students in the age group of 15 to 18 years in Assam have been fully vaccinated. The education department, however, claimed that over 90% of the eligible students from this group has been vaccinated with the first dose. The same is the corresponding percentage for board examinees whose number is over six lakh in the state.


“We have not received any instructions yet from the government mentioning that only the candidates who have got the Covid-19 vaccine, can appear for the examination. The education board cannot take such a decision, unless the health department notifies it,” a senior official of the

Assam Higher Secondary Education Council

(AHSEC) told TOI on Tuesday.


Sarma at a news conference on Monday said the government would request the board examinees to get themselves vaccinated before the exams. Categorically, Sarma said he is hopeful that the Board of Secondary Education and AHSEC will issue directives to students to get vaccinated. “If they take the vaccine now, the double dose will be completed before the board examinations begin,” Sarma had said.


Stay updated with the latest education news on Times of India. Explore the CBSE date sheet for Class 10 and 12 across Arts, Science, and Commerce streams.