CBSE Class 10, Class 12 board exam fee for SC/ST hiked by 24 times, double for General category students

In what might come as a major shock to students, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has increased the fee of Class 10 and 12 board examinations for SC and ST students by whopping 24 times. According to a notification released on Sunday, the board has increased the fee for these categories from Rs 50 to Rs 1,200. With the latest announcement, the General category students will also have to pay more than what they were paying otherwise. For the General category, the CBSE exam fee has been doubled to Rs 1,500.

According to the revised norms, the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students now need to pay Rs 1,200 for five subjects. The general category students who were paying Rs 750 earlier, will now pay Rs 1,500 for five subjects. "The fees is applicable for both Class 10 and 12 examinations," a senior CBSE official said.

Earlier, the SC and ST students didn't have to pay any extra fee for appearing in additional exams in Class 12 board examination. From now on, they will also have to pay Rs 300 extra for that. The general category students will also have to pay Rs 300 for an additional subject, instead of Rs 150 earlier.

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"100 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 said. 

The board has also increased the migration fees from Rs 150 to Rs 350. The students enrolled in CBSE schools abroad will have to pay Rs 10,000 for five subjects for both Class 10 and Class 12 instead of the earlier fee of Rs 5000. 

Reacting to the criticism for increasing the fee, the board said that it has hiked fee for all parts of the country, and not especially for Delhi. The CBSE has also mentioned that there has been an increase after a gap of five years.

“It is clarified that the board has increased the Board exams fee pan India and not especially for Delhi, as misrepresented by some portions of the media. This increase is after a gap of 5 years. The Board had not increased the fee in the last five years,” the CBSE statement said. The board believes that the move has brought the fees structure at par with that of other boards.