Class 1 to 8 students in Maharashtra to be promoted without exams due to Covid-19 pandemic

Varsha Gaikwad’s announcement comes a day after Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said that stricter rules will be imposed in the state over the weekend following a massive increase in daily cases of the coronavirus disease.

All students of classes 1 to 8 of the Maharashtra state board will be promoted to the next class without examinations this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, state education minister Varsha Gaikwad said on Saturday.

Maharashtra has decided to promote students of classes 1 to 8 without examinations this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Raj K Raj/HT File Photo)

“In view of the ongoing situation due to #Covid 19, all state board students across Maharashtra state from Class 1st to Class 8th will be promoted to the next class without any examinations. A decision regarding students of class 9th and 11th will soon be taken,” the education minister wrote on Twitter.

Varsha Gaikwad’s announcement comes a day after Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said that stricter rules will be imposed in the state over the weekend following a massive increase in daily cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). As the cases surpassed 47,800 on Friday, Thackeray warned that a complete lockdown cannot be ruled out if no alternative solution is found over the weekend and if citizens fail to follow Covid-19 appropriate behavior.

“We will issue guidelines for stricter curbs in the next couple of days. The decision on the lockdown will be taken after talking to political leaders and experts from various fields in two days. Political parties and industrialists have been opposing the lockdown and warning government against it. We are in a catch-22. If a lockdown is imposed, we face economic crisis. At the same time, lives are more important to us. Many countries, including France, United Kingdom, Belgium and Brazil, have imposed a strict lockdown for many weeks in their fight against the second wave,” Thackeray said in his address to the people of Maharashtra.

Several Maharashtra districts including Palghar and Pune have ordered a temporary closure of schools.

Maharashtra is among the 11 states designated by the Centre as ‘states of grave concern’ as it has recorded a nine-fold increase in cases and described the situation in the state as ‘particularly worrying.’ On February 3, there were 42,830 active Covid-19 cases in the western state and they shot up to 3,91,203 on April 3, according to figures released by the Union ministry of health and family welfare.