ASSAM TO HOLD BOARD EXAMS DESPITE PROTESTS

GUWAHATI: The Assam government on Tuesday decided to go ahead with conducting the board exams for classes 10 and 12 despite an online campaign demanding their cancellation in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The decision was taken at a meeting of stakeholders and education department officials in Guwahati. “We arrived at a consensus that exams should be held, which was what the education department has been suggesting. The number of Covid-19 cases is going down steadily in the state and in the coming days, we should be able to formulate SOPS on exams,” education minister Ranoj Pegu said.

On June 1, the Union government decided to cancel Class 12 board exams for CBSE schools; the Class 10 ones were cancelled on April 15. At least 13 states, including Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan have cancelled the Class 12 exam.

“We submitted a letter to them on May 22 suggesting that exams should be held when the Covid situation gets a little better...,” said Dr Jayanta Sharma, secretary of Assam Jatiya Bidyalaya Education Council, which runs nearly 3,000 non-government schools across Assam. The Covid-19 situation in Assam has improved marginally in the recent weeks — from 6,000 daily cases in mid-may to down to around 3,800. The positivity rate has also dipped from around 8 to 3% since May. On Tuesday, the state recorded 3,948 new cases and 43 deaths. The positivity rate stood at 2.96%.