32,335 appear across 463 centres

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, February 20

As many as 32,335 students of Class V and VIII appeared for the exams which began today. The exams, which are being conducted under the Learning Outcome Evaluation System, will conclude on February 27. On the first day, students of both the classes appeared for the math exam.

Collectively, the exams are being held across over 463 centres. For Class VIII, exams are being held at more than 283 centres, while those for Class V are being held at over 180 centres in the district. While 32,851 were collectively studying in the two classes, of these, 32,335 appeared and 516 remained absent during the exam. While 14,875, students appeared for the exams out of a total 15,103 in the Class V, meanwhile, in Class VIII, 17,460 out of 17,748 appeared.

More than 700 teachers were deputed on examination duty today. In Class V, 228 students remained absent while 288 remained absent in Class VIII.

Since students of Classes V and VIII are not to be promoted or demoted, these exams are not termed as board exams and are independently conducted by the State Education Department to ascertain the extent of learning of students as they step into the next standard.

In a bid to further analyse poor scorers, the government had also announced a retest for students getting the poorest scores – E grades - of the VIII standard exams. The initiative from the department last year was seen as an attempt to increase the grades of poor students to gloss over the results, retrospectively. As per the newly framed policy by the Education Department, teachers’ Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs) shall have direct impact on the exams.

After these examinations are over, the examinations from classes 3rd to 11th (which shall include classes 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 9th and 11th) shall be held from March 6 to March 18 and the XII board exams shall be held from February 28 to March 24 and while the X board exams shall be held from March 14 to March 29.