Punjab to promote students of classes 5, 8 and 10 without exams

NEW DELHI: Amid rising COVID-19 cases, the Punjab government on Thursday announced that students of classes 5, 8 and 10 will be promoted to the next class without exams.

A decision on the class 12 exams by the Punjab State Examination Board (PSEB), which has already been postponed, will be taken later based on the emerging situation. These decisions were taken during a COVID-19 review meeting chaired by Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, according to a government statement here. The announcements came a day after the central government announced the cancellation of class 10 exams and the postponement of class 12 exams conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education.

Singh on Thursday said that while the state had closed all educational institutions till April 30, bringing down the positivity rate in the 11-20 age group, relief was needed to be provided to school children going for exams. For class 5 students, since exams for 4 out of 5 subjects have already been conducted, results may be declared by the Punjab State Education Board (PSEB) on the basis of marks obtained by students in respect of 4 subjects, ignoring the 5th one, it said. Results for class 8 and 10 may be declared on the basis of pre-board examinations or internal assessment of respective schools, the CM directed the education department.

Singh, who had earlier this week written to the Union Education Minister on the issue of exams, also expressed satisfaction at the Centre's decision to postpone the class 12 CBSE exams and cancellation of class 10 CBSE exams in view of the pandemic. The meeting was also attended by Medical Education Minister OP Soni, Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla, Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan and DGP Dinkar Gupta.

The PSEB last month had postponed the exams of classes 10 and 12 by about a month. The exams of class 10 were scheduled to start from May 4 and that of class 12 were to commence from April 20. Punjab on Wednesday had reported 63 deaths and 3,329 fresh COVID-19 infections.