1.5 crore UP school students will skip final exams — and still get promoted to the next class

• Coronavirus scare: As many as 1.5 crore students studying in government-run schools in Uttar Pradesh will not have to appear for final examinations to get promoted to the next class.
  
• The state government has also announced closure of schools until 2 April 2020 as a precautionary measure.
  
• In addition, the state board has halted the answer sheet evaluation process of class 10th and 12th board exams in the wake of coronavirus.
  
• The evaluation was earlier scheduled from March 18 across 275 centres — where nearly 1.47 lakh teachers would have to check over 3 crore answer sheets in 10 days.

The outbreak of coronavirus has disrupted the academic calendar of students, due to unexpected school closures, postponed exams and much more.

As many as 1.5 crore students studying in the government-run schools in Uttar Pradesh will not have to appear for final examinations to get promoted to the next class, as per the directives by the Yogi Adityanath-led UP government. This is applicable to all students up to 8th grade.

"Orders have been issued to promote all students, studying in schools run by the basic education department, of class one to eight to next classes without examination,” the official announcement by Renuka Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary of Education said.

The primary school exams were supposed to take place from March 23 to 28.

The development comes on the backdrop of the ongoing pandemic across the globe, which has taken over 7,000 lives so far. The state government also announced the closure of schools until April 2, 2020 as a precautionary measure. There have been 13 infectious cases in Uttar Pradesh so far.

"The students will be promoted on the basis of the performance all year round,” said Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma, adding that the decision has been made given the school closures in the state.

On the other hand, the exams for schools affiliated to national and international boards — CBSE, ICSE and IB — will take place as planned.

Delayed results for 10th and 12th grade students

The Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad has also halted the marksheet evaluation process of class 10th and 12th board exams in the wake of coronavirus.

“The evaluation process will not be done from today till April 2, as per orders from Deputy CM Dinesh Sharma, and communicated by principal secretary (secondary education),” the board secretary Neena Srivastava communicated. The evaluation was earlier scheduled from March 18 across 275 centres — involving nearly 1.47 lakh teachers to check over 3 crore answer sheets in 10 days.

The decision came as several teachers refused to show up at the evaluation centres due to the coronavirus scare.

That also means, the declaration of results is also likely to be postponed. Last year, the results were declared on April 27.

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