Covid resurgence: UP govt scraps annual exams, promotes 1.6 crore students to next level

LUCKNOW: In the wake of the increasing number of Covid cases, the Yogi Adityanath government has promoted over 1.6 crore students of Class I to Class VIII in the state without making them appear for annual examinations.

The state government scrapped annual examinations in about 1.3 lakh primary schools. The exams scheduled for March 25 and 26 were cancelled and schools were closed for the Holi holidays till March 31 owing to the surge of Covid cases in about 65 districts.

Active Covid cases doubled in the state during the last six days with 55% of the cases surfacing in nine districts led by state capital Lucknow.

During the last 24 hours, the state registered 836 fresh cases with four persons died of Covid.

The state government had declared the closure of primary schools in March last year. They were reopened on February 10 (for Class V to VIII) and March 1 (for classes I to IV) after nearly a year.

The Director General of Primary Education Vijay Kiran Anand said that the new session of Class 1 to VIII would begin from April 1. A decision on holding offline or online classes would be taken shortly after assessing the Covid situation.

A letter to the principals of all government and private schools directed them to promote students of Class 1 to VIII to the next level.

The DG, however, said that a performance-based assessment of students would be done in April last. “But no student will be denied promotion to the next level under the Right to Education Act,” he added.

Promotion to students for Class IX to XI will be given only after holding annual examinations. The Deputy Chief Minister Dr Dinesh Sharma has already announced to reschedule UP Board examinations in view of three-tier Panchayat polls.