Vijayapura: The government is yet to take a final call on holding final exams for the students of class 1 and class 9 in the State, Minister for Primary and Secondary, S. Suresh Kumar said that the decision would be announced on April 8.
Addressing press after chairing a review meeting of officials of the education department of Vijayapura, Bagalkot and Chikkodi on Wednesday April 7, he said that he has held meetings with parents, educationists and the NGOs in this regard.
“We had a prolonged discussion on the matter however we have not reached any conclusion so far on the contentious issue of holding exams or not for class 1 and class 9 students. The final decision would be announced on April 8 (Thursday)”, he said.
Admitting that the conflict on school fees is yet to be resolved as the matter has now reached the High Court, the Minister said that while he tried to bring an amicable solution by offering a formula where he asked the schools to take only 70% of the fees, some of the schools did not agree.
“These schools have now gone to court and a final decision has yet to be given by the court. Since the matter is in the court, I would not like to comment on it”, he said.
Suresh Kumar however maintained that a solution can be found if the school managements and parents sit together and try to find an amicable solution.
On the reports of several students of financially poor families, who are working as child labourers or increase of child marriages due to Covid pandemic, the Minister admitted that lockdown and pandemic has led to such an unhealthy situation.
He however said that multiple departments, including, Education, Women and Child Welfare, Zilla Panchayat and Labour have joined hands in bringing these students back to school.
“Even the High Court has taken the matter of school dropout seriously and has directed the government to ensure that no child remains out of the school. In this regard, we are working on it”, he said but also added that he did not have exact data on the number of students who have quit the schools owing to Covid pandemic.
Referring to the coming SSLC and PUC exam which is scheduled to start from June 21 and May 24 respectively, he said that the government is ready to hold the exam by strictly following Standard Operating Protocol (SOP) for the exam during the pandemic.
The Minister appealed to the officials of the education department to maintain the sanctity of the exam and not to make it a business.
“Since the exam is being held during the pandemic and all the students have been preparing well for the exam even during this pandemic, therefore, we all must treat the students like Corona warriors. Have great empathy for the students and treat every child like your own child”, he said.
Asking the officials to prepare micromanagement for the exam, he directed them to ensure that not a single student remains absent for the exam.
“It is the exam of not just the students, but of the entire education department. Thus, we all should work hard to succeed in the exam”, he said.
MLC, Arun Shahapur was present.
