The Jharkhand government on Thursday announced cancellation of this year's matric and intermediate exams conducted by the Jharkhand Academic Council in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Chief minister Hemant Soren made the announcement on Twitter saying, "Considering the Covid-19 situation and based on the demands from students, teachers and parents, we have decided to cancel matric and intermediate exams for safety of students."

The exams were originally slated to be held from May 4 but JAC postponed it in April following the government's directive.

Over seven lakh students are due to appear in JAC’s matric and intermediate exam, which was originally scheduled to take place from May 4 across 2200 centres. However, due to the outbreak of the second wave of Covid-19 in April, the JAC announced postponement of the exams till further orders stating that it will take a call after reviewing the situation on June 1.

Ajay Rai, president of Jharkhand Abhibhavak Sangh hailed the decision. He said, "We have been demanding for cancellation of exams since long as covid situation is still not over. We appreciate the state government's decision."