Class X exams: J&K BOSE mulls separate exam centers for Covid positive students

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (JKBOSE) is mulling to set up separate centers for asymptomatic Covid-19 positive students who appear for matriculation exams next month.

The date sheet for Class 10 annual exams is expected to be out in a week’s time and the authorities are setting up 50 percent additional centers to ensure strict adherence to Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs).
JKBOSE is also mulling to arrange separate centers for asymptomatic Covid-19 positive students subjected to directions by the Health Department.

“The date-sheet may take around one week….The exams will be conducted in the normal manner. Special arrangements will be made. We will take all Covid-19 related SOPs into consideration,” Veena Pandita, JKBOSE chairperson told The Kashmir Monitor.

The JKBOSE has already announced the conduct of Class 10 exams after November 15 next month.
Director Academics JKBOSE Farooq Ahmad Peer said there will be 50 percent more centers for Class 10 exams.
“We are going to have additional centers in view of Covid-19 as the date-sheet is expected to be out in a week’s time. If there were 100 centers earlier, this time there will be 150 given the pandemic,” said Peer.

When asked about arrangements for Covid-19 positive students if any, he said they would follow the advisories of the Health Department.

“In the case of COVID positive students, we will follow the health department advisories. And we also have to see the condition of the students. If they are asymptomatic, then we may arrange separate facilities. However, we will follow the government’s advisory,” said Peer.

The Valley-based schools had been shut after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic just days after reopening in March following the winter break. Later, classes IX to XII resumed functioning from September 22 but the attendance remained thin.

The decision to reopen schools had evoked sharp criticism even as the parents had been asked to submit a written undertaking that their wards were not coerced to attend classes.