Reschedule PSEB exams slated for Feb 16, says DTF

Amritsar, February 10

In view of the Bharat Bandh call on February 16 given by the United Kisan Morcha, Central Trade Unions and other public organisations, members the Democratic Teachers’ Union on Saturday urged the Education Department to re-schedule/ postpone the examination being conducted by the Punjab School Education Board for Classes X and XII on February 16.

Members of the union, who are government school teachers, led by state president Vikram Dev Singh and Finance Secretary Ashwani Awasthi said that since the Bharat Bandh call would directly impact transport and other services, which will remain suspended on the day, the exam should be rescheduled.

“The Punjab School Education Board has issued the date sheet regarding the papers of religious studies for Class XII and science subject for Class X. Owing to Bharat Bandh call and chakka jam by organisations, the services of government and private buses will be hit. Roadblocks and road jams may occur at various places due to which the staff and students will have to face difficulties in reaching the examination centres on time. Therefore, keeping in mind the difficulties, we have made a request to the Punjab School Education Board and the Punjab Education Minister, urging them that the exams scheduled to be held on February 16 should either be postponed or preponed,” said Vikran Dev Singh.

It may be mentioned here that on the joint call given by the Union Kisan Morcha, Central Trade Unions and other fraternal organizations, government teachers’ unions had also supported the Bharat Bandh call a few days ago. The main issues for which these organizations have been called to support the Bharat Bandh include curtailing the entry of corporates in the retail sector, cancelling the four labour codes, protesting against the increase of workers’ daily hours from 8 hours to 12 hours and several other government policies.

Meanwhile, the District Education Department has completed all arrangements for the annual PSEB board exams that commence from February 13. The PSEB exams for Classes VIII, X and XII will be conducted across 238 centres in the district. Rajesh Kumar, District Education Officer, Secondary Education, Amritsar, informed that a total of 238 centres and seven self-centres have been built in the district. “As many as 28,730 students of Class VIII, 28,119 of Class X and 27,282 of Class XII will be taking the exam. Besides, 888 students of Class X and 856 students of Class XII are taking the exam in self centres, which means these students will be taking the exams in their respective schools, as opposed to the practice of assigning different schools as exam centre,” added Kumar.