E-Paper
Amid Covid surge, 2 lakh students appear for annual exam in HP
A day after Himachal Pradesh recorded the highest ever spike in coronavirus cases with 1,089 fresh infections, around two lakh students appeared for the Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education’s annual examination on Tuesday
A day after Himachal Pradesh recorded the highest ever spike in coronavirus cases with 1,089 fresh infections, around two lakh students appeared for the Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education’s annual examination on Tuesday.
As many as 1,16,954 regular students and 14,931 open school students appeared for the Class-10 examination while 1,00,982 regular students and 13,944 open school candidates appeared for the examination.
The examinations will conclude on April 28 for Class 10 and May 10 for Class 12. The board’s chairperson Suresh Kumar Soni said 2,137 examination centres had been set up across the state.
Separate dates for infected students
Soni said the examinations were being conducted in compliance with Covid guidelines. “Separate provisions have been made for students with flu-like symptoms. Infected students can appear for the examination after a month and dates for the same will be announced later,” he said.
Should a teacher at the examination centre test positive, staff from other schools will be deputed at the centre.
Those in boarding schools at greater risk
Students putting up at boarding schools are at a greater risk as evidenced by 18 students testing positive at Pine Grove, a well-known boarding school in Dharampur, Solan. Four cooks, and teachers have also tested positive for the virus. School authorities, however, remain tight-lipped despite attempts to reach them for a comment.
The boarders tested positive a week after 120 students at Dalhousie Public School tested positive. Students from a school in Barotiwala have also tested positive for the virus.
With students increasingly contracting the virus, the district administrations have taken fresh measures and are maintaining a close tab on the residential schools. Solan and Shimla have the highest number of residential schools. The managements of residential schools have asked parents to furnish reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) negative reports before admitting students.
