Bihar education department promotes students of classes 1-8 without exams

Considering the rising Covid-19 cases, the Bihar education department has decided to promote more than 1.6 crore students of classes 1 to 8 to the next grade without conducting the annual examination.

Considering the rising Covid-19 cases, the Biha education department has decided to promote more than 1.6 crore students of classes 1 to 8 to the next grade without conducting the annual examination.

Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) will begin its process of filling forms for intermediate examination, from December 3 till December 9, chairman Anand Kishor announced on Friday.(Getty Images)

As per the latest notification issued on Tuesday, the state government has decided to relax the detention policy for students of classes 5 and 8 under Rule 10 of the RTE Act, 2019, only for the session 2020-21. As per the Act, there is a no-detention policy for classes 1 to 4 and 6 to7.

“As schools were closed since March last year, students are facing difficulty in appearing the exam. Due to the "unusual events" surrounding the pandemic, the government has decided not to detain students of classes 5 and 8”, read the notification.

Last year, the state education department promoted students up to Class 8 without holding annual examination owing to Covid-19 outbreak induced lockdown.

The education department has yet not taken any decision on closure of schools owing to spike in Covid-19 cases. “No decision related to closure of schools has been taken so far. The crisis management group is likely to hold a meeting next week to review the situation”, said Sanjay Kumar, principal secretary of Bihar education department.

Meanwhile, the education department is carrying out admission drive in the full swing. As per data available, more than 50,000 students have been enrolled in classes 1 to 9 across the state during the admission drive which commenced on March 8.

The department is preparing to compensate the academic loss for the current session by conducting 3-month catch-up course for students of class 2 to 12.

“All existing and new enrolled students will attend catch-up classes which will begin in April. The short-term course will bridge the learning gap occurred due to year-long closure of schools and help the students to learn their new syllabus from July”, added Kumar.