Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first visit to Kashmir in five years has prompted the Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (JKBOSE) to postpone the Class X board examination papers slated for March 7 to avoid inconvenience
to the students.

The Class X examinations were scheduled to be held between March 7 and April 3. The dates of practicals were to be announced later.

“In view of unavoidable circumstances the examination of vocational subjects including agriculture, apparels, makeup and home furnishing, automotive, beauty and wellness, health care, IT& ITES, physical education & sports, plumbing/ retail, security, telecommunication, tourism and hospitality, electronics and hardware of (Class X)… have been postponed (to April 4),” director, academics, JKBOSE, said in the order.

The move was necessitated by heightened security arrangements for the PM’s visit.

Modi will address a rally at Srinagar’s Bakshi Stadium on March 7, which will be his first after the scrapping of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019. The visit has coincided with the beginning of the board examinations in Kashmir and is already mired in controversy after the administration directed 7,000 of its employees, including hundreds of teachers, to join the rally on Thursday.

In an order, JKBOSE on Tuesday said the Class X examination of vocational subjects, slated on March 7, would now be held on April 4. More than 60,000 students will appear in the Class X exams in the Valley this year. Most Valley schools follow the NCERT syllabus.