The Central Board of Secondary Education and the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations on Tuesday cancelled the Class 12 board exams in view of the coronavirus situation across the country. In April, both the CBSE and the CISCE had cancelled the exams for Class 10.

On Tuesday, the CBSE announced the decision after holding a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the exams, reported NDTV. The education board said that the results of the students will be compiled “as per a well-defined objective criteria in a time-bound manner”.

CBSE’s Controller of Examinations Sanyam Bharadwaj said that the students who are not satisfied with the results will be given an option to appear for the exams when the Covid-19 situation becomes conducive.

Modi announced that the decision was taken in the interest of students. “He [Modi] stated that Covid-19 has affected the academic calendar and the issue of Board Exams has been causing immense anxiety among students, parents and teachers, which must be put to an end,” his office said in a statement. The prime minister added that the health and safety of the students was of utmost importance and there would be no compromise on it.

Following the CBSE’s announcement, the CISCE quickly followed suit. In a statement, CISCE General Secretary Gerry Arathoon said that the results will be based on a mechanism that will include the internal evaluations conducted by the school. “The schools will be informed in due course of time about this mechanism,” he said.

Similar to the CBSE’s approach, Arathoon also said that students will be given an option to appear for the exams if they are not satisfied with the marks.

Various politicians, including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, had called for cancelling the examinations. Several political leaders showed their support after the decision was announced on Tuesday evening.