The Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) Thursday ordered the postponement of pending board exams for classes V, X and XII, as a precautionary measure amid the Covid-19 outbreak. The written exams for class VIII were already over and their pending practicals have also been postponed, said the PSEB statement. The statement added that all pending board exams, which were scheduled from March 20 to 31, stand postponed, till further orders. Meanwhile, the Director, State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), Punjab, issued fresh orders Thursday ordering complete closure of all government, private, associated, aided, Adarsh and Meritorious schools, till March 31, including for teachers and other employees. In the earlier orders for Punjab schools, the government had ordered holidays only for children till March 31 and staff, including teachers, were still reporting for administrative work and evaluation of answer sheets. Inderjit Singh, Director, SCERT told The Indian Express, “Earlier, we had ordered closure only for students and staff still had to report for administrative and other works. But as per today’s orders, teachers also won’t report to schools for any work. All government, private, aided and other schools have to follow these orders and they have been sent to district education officers (DEOs), school heads and block primary education officers (BPEOs) across state.” For the evaluation of answer sheets for exams already conducted, the PSEB has allowed the teachers to take answer sheets with them and do evaluation at their homes. In the written orders issued by the PSEB, teachers have been allowed to take answer sheets for classes V and VIII with them and evaluate them at their homes. With the state government announcing the ban on public transport from Saturday, teachers reporting from villages said that it was a relief. J R Mehrok, PSEB’s Controller Examinations, said: “We have already issued written orders allowing teachers to take answer sheets home for class VIII and V. Checking for these two classes was being held at cluster level and head teachers have been asked to streamline entire process now. Teachers can evaluate sheets at home and then upload marks online on the portal as earlier.” For classes XII and X exams that were already conducted, Mehrok said, “For that too we are in the process of issuing orders to allow evaluation of answer sheets at home.” On the postponement of exams, Mehrok said, “As of now, we have only postponed exams till March 31 and it will be decided as per situation, if exams scheduled for April 1 onwards will be held as per schedule or not. We will announce entire fresh schedule for pending exams on board website, newspapers, DEO-portals and other mediums in coming days.” The class XII exam for optional subjects under National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) was held as per schedule Thursday (March 19) while there was no exam scheduled for class V and X.
