Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday announced that students of government and government-aided schools in the National Capital Territory will not have to pay any fee for Class 10 and Class 12 exams to the Central Board of Secondary Education, PTI reported.

“Students in Delhi government schools and aided schools will not have to pay any fees for CBSE Class 10, 12 exams,” Sisodia told the news agency. “Delhi government will bear entire cost for all categories of students, modalities being worked out.”

Sisodia also said the government was in discussion with CBSE to roll back the increase in the examination fee this year. “Irrespective of what happens, no child will have to bear the burden of registration fees as the government will bear that,” he added.

Last week, the board had released a circular that said candidates from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Delhi government schools would pay Rs 1,200 for five subjects, while all others in India would have to pay Rs 1,500 for five subjects.

Earlier, the board exam fee for SC and ST students only in Delhi “as a special arrangement” was Rs 350, out of which the Delhi government paid Rs 300. For general category students, it was Rs 750 earlier. On Tuesday, the board had said it would continue to charge only Rs 50 from students of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in government and government-aided schools in Delhi as examination fee.

The board said it had increased the fee for the whole of India and this was after a gap of five years. “The fee has been raised for all categories of students in all affiliated schools of CBSE in India and abroad by a resolution of the governing body of the board,” the board had said.

CBSE officials said a deficit of over Rs 200 crore in conducting the examinations for Class 10 and Class 12 had forced the board to revise the fee. The Centre’s decision to shift competitive examinations such as the all-India entrance tests for medical and engineering courses away from CBSE to the National Testing Agency also led to loss of major source of their revenue.