8th class and above exams to be offline: Director Education
Srinagar: This year, Kashmir’s students studying in class 8 and above will have to sit in offline exams, Director School Education has said, adding that relaxation in syllabus will be provided to tide over the difficulties brought in by online mode of education prevalent for the past two years.
The exams for classes 10 and 12 in Kashmir division are expected to begin from the first week of November.
Director School Education Kashmir Division, Tasadduq Hussain Mir said that exams for all classes starting from class 8 in all schools of the division will be taken in examination centers.
The formalities are being completed and the modalities will be completed soon, he said. “We have already announced a relaxation of 30 percent in the syllabus,” he said. The examination for class 11, he said, was also planned to be offline. In addition, he said, the department was discussing how the students enrolled in lower classes in government schools can be assessed. “May be we will consider the performances in their previous exams,” he said.
While discussing the “lacunae in delivery” of education due to the pandemic, Mir said, the government was cognizant of the situation and the students appearing in exams will have a “wide choice” in attempting the questions. “However, the decision has been taken that exams need to be offline now, and this is happening in the Higher Education department as well,” he said. He said last year as well, the department conducted offline exams for classes 10 and 12.
As reported earlier by this newspaper, Kashmir University announced the schedule for examination of various Undergraduate and Postgraduate courses. These exams, as per the University, will also be offline.
Joint Secretary Examinations at JKBOSE, Prof Aijaz Hakak told Greater Kashmir earlier this week, “The question paper will be framed from 100 percent of syllabus but the students have to only attempt 70 percent questions which will be considered as 100 percent.”
As per the department, the question paper will be framed from the entire syllabus. The students will have the choice to attempt only 70 percent of the question paper and their assessment will be based on from the attempted section only.
Schools in Kashmir have remained closed since August 2019, with a few weeks of attendance for the past two years. Most schools, including the Government ones, have been imparting online education, the access to which varies depending on the socio-economic and demographic factors.
