Extending the academic year for classes IX to XII, the Education Ministry has decided to postpone examinations. The ministry will soon issue an official notification to Bhutan Council for School Examinations and Assessment (BCSEA) and schools. The ministry had sought government’s approval in September to defer the exams to give students time to catch up on lessons missed during the pandemic.
Along with classes X and XII, the ministry has also decided to defer home exams for classes IX and XI to mid-February next year. With exams deferred, the results, for classes IX and XI are to be declared on 15th March and in the first week of April for classes X and Xll.
“In the first two weeks of March, they will write their exams and in the following two weeks, BCSEA will conduct the evaluation camp. BCSEA will organise the evaluation camp for X and Xll on two campuses so that they can simultaneously conduct the evaluations. By the end of March, they should have completed evaluating the papers and by the first week of April they should be able to declare the results,” said Kinley Gyeltshen, the Offg. Director-General for Dept. of School Education with the Education Ministry.
Meanwhile, as per the notification, the schools will be ending the 2020 academic year for classes pre-primary to VIII by the end of November. The results of online assessment for the students are to be declared on 18th December.
With the extending of the academic year, the ministry is also deferring the commencement date of the 2021 academic year. Classes pre-primary to VIII will be starting their academic session between the first week and mid of February next year. However, this doesn’t apply to schools where students from Phuentshogling Thromde are currently being relocated to.
And academic session for classes IX, X and XII will begin in April 2021.
“We have four schools; Thinleygang Primary, Lobesa Primary, Shengana Lower Secondary, and Khuruthang Middle Secondary school, where we have students relocated from Phuentshogling because of the pandemic. Because we have class X and Xll studying in those four schools we don’t want to reopen those schools on the same date as other schools since class X and XII will be writing board exams. Similarly, across the nation, we have many schools that have levels from pre-primary to Xll, so where schools have classes X and XII writing board exams, the reopening will be deferred,” he said.
The ministry is expecting to end the 2021 academic session by November if the pandemic situation does not deteriorate.
“2021 Academic year will hopefully end as usual by November. This is with the belief that the pandemic will not disrupt our system again. Otherwise also, as far as possible, we will ensure that the school academic calendar is not disrupted. Despite any situation arising we will make sure that schools will be able to carry out the normal academic calendar,” he added.
Following the government’s directive, schools have resumed in-person teaching based on the prioritised curriculum for classes IX to XII by mid-September.
Phub Gyem
