Education Ministry has proposed the government to postpone final exams for classes IX to Xll to March next year. The Education Minister said it is to give students time to catch up on lessons missed due to the pandemic.
Education Minister Jai Bir Rai said given the schools can reopen after lifting the lockdown and can continue without disruption, the ministry plans to direct schools to continue education for classes IX to XII until March next year.
“We are worried if the syllabus could be covered this year as regular classes were disrupted since the first case was detected in March and now because of the lockdown. We felt the need to give students some more time so they can grasp at least 80 to 90 per cent of the lessons if not 100 per cent,” Lyonpo said.
The ministry is expecting schools to resume regular classes for classes IX to XII in the next 10 days given there is no case of community transmission of COVID-19 in the country. The Prime Minister announced that the schools and institutes will continue to remain closed while the government assess and prepare for reopening starting today.
Lyonpo said it will be impossible to reopen schools in case there is any report of community transmission in the country in the next 10 days:
“When the schools will reopen will entirely depend on how well the public cooperate in following COVID-19 prevention health protocols. In case there is any community transmission reported from any district, we are worried we will not be able to reopen schools as proposed .”
The ministry has proposed the government to reopen schools for classes IX and XI along with X and XII if the lockdown is lifted. After resuming in July, regular classes were dismissed for classes X and XII on August 11 following the nationwide lockdown.
“Without studying in class XI, it will be difficult for them to perform well in XII. Similarly, classes IX and X are in the same cohort and without studying properly in the ninth grade, they won’t be able to do well in 12th,” Lyonpo added.
Besides, the ministry has also proposed to reopen Early Childhood Care and Development centres, NFEs and Institutes for the deaf, which were all closed after the country reported its first positive case of COVID-19 in March, should the situation improve.
Phub Gyem
