UP defers board exams, shuts schools till May 15, prolongs night curfew
104 more deaths, including 26 in Lucknow; 22,439 fresh Covid-19 cases in Uttar Pradesh
LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday decided to postpone the class 10 and class 12 exams of the UP Board till after May 20, suspend teaching work for students from class 1 to 12 till May 15 and prolong the night curfew by two more hours with immediate effect in 10 districts having over 2000 active Covid-19 cases. However, essential services will not be impacted.
During this period, no examinations should be held, chief minister Yogi Adityanath said.
The new dates for the UP Board exams will be announced in the first week of May, said chief minister after a Covid review meeting with officials via video conferencing.
Instead of 9pm to 6am, the night curfew will now be enforced from 8pm to 7am in 10 districts including Lucknow, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Kanpur Nagar, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Ghaziabad, Meerut and Gorakhpur.
Yogi, who isolated himself following Covid-19 positive report on Wednesday, gave orders in this regard after reviewing the situation with Team-11 at a video conference on Thursday.
The steps came even as Uttar Pradesh on Thursday reported 104 coronavirus deaths, including 26 in Lucknow, and 22,439 fresh infection cases, the highest single-day spike since the outbreak of the pandemic. The state capital alone logged 5,183 fresh cases.
As Covid-19 surge continued at a fast pace, the government also released the first instalment of Rs 750 crore of the Vidhayak Nidhi (state legislature area development fund) for 2021-22 a year after keeping it under suspension to provide funds for fight against Covid-19.
Simultaneously, in a letter to the Lucknow district magistrate on Thursday, state law minister Brijesh Pathak offered his MLA Local Area Development (MLALAD) fund for the establishment of centres in each city ward to carry out RT-PCR tests and to assist Covid positive patients in all possible ways.
“Covid crisis is giving nightmarish experiences to the people here in the state capital. I willingly offer my MLA fund to establish centres in all wards of the city to carry out Covid test and to assist people in need,’ said the letter.
University and degree colleges’ exams across the state have also been postponed till May 15. A decision about these exams will be taken in the first week of May, said deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma in a tweet on Thursday.
In a letter addressed to all the vice chancellors, special secretary, UP government, Abdul Samad said Universities and degree colleges should not hold any theory or practical exams till May 15. Universities and colleges were asked to continue only online classes and students should not be allowed to come to campuses.
Meanwhile the decision on postponing the UP Board exam comes a day after the Central Board of Secondary Examination (CBSE) cancelled exams for class 10 and deferred exams for class 12 due to the pandemic.