the goan I network
PANAJI
The Directorate of Education on Tuesday convened a high-level meeting of all its top officials and thereafter issued a circular to the heads of all government run, government aided and unaided schools ranging from pre-primary right up to higher secondary institutions informing them that examinations for classes up to Std VIII stand cancelled.
The circular issued by the Education Director lays down that examinations for classes up to Std VIII stand cancelled and the examinations for classes from Std IX till Std XII including board exams will be held as per schedule by strictly following the protocol of maintaining distance of one meter between the students.
DoE has further stated in view of the latest guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India regarding the measures to be put in place for effective social distancing to curb the spread of COVID-19.
The circular is aimed at clearing the numerous doubts that were raised by heads of schools as well as parents of the students about the announcements made by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, who is also the Education Minister, on Saturday. CM had declared that all classes till Std IX will be suspended till March 31 while the examination schedules will remain undisturbed.
The DoE circular can be read along with Continuous and Comprehensive Education (CCE) as mandated by the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE). Chapter V of the Act on Curriculum and Completion of Elementary Education under Section 29 (1) (h) provides for Comprehensive and Continuous Evaluation of a child’s understanding of knowledge imbibed through the teaching and his or her ability to apply the same. As a result, an aggregate of all the assignments, tests, examinations and projects undertaken by the schools so far in the ongoing academic year will therefore be derived to mark the students’ performance during this year.
Mapusa’s Saraswat Vidhyalaya was among the first schools in the state to adopt this manner of evaluation even prior to the circular issued by the DoE.
However, teachers are expected to report to school as per their schedule and discharge their administrative duties.
