Goa CM urged to emulate Punjab, UP model for SSC exams (Ld)

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Panaji, May 18 (IANS) The opposition in Goa on Monday urged Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to emulate the model adopted by Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh to allot scores to Class X students, based on previous academic year's performance, instead of forcing them to appear in examinations amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Addressing the media, Leader of Opposition, Digambar Kamat, said that Sawant should appoint experts to deal with the Class X board examination and not force students to take them.

Goa has seen a surge of Covid-19 cases over the last few days. The state didn't have single case between April 3 and May 13. But since May 14, the state has recorded 35 cases.

Over 20,000 students are scheduled to appear in the SSC examination and several thousand more in the HSSC examination (part of which was completed before March 25 when the lockdown was announced).

"It seems we are ignoring the risk to 11,000 students and their parents. If anything happens tomorrow, who will be responsible," Kamat asked.

When the Central guidelines said that schools, colleges and other educational institutions should remain closed, how could a state government conduct board examinations, he added.

Sawant, however, insisted that exams would be held later this month as scheduled. When asked if his administration could guarantee that not a single SSC or HSSC student would be infected by Covid-19 in the course of the examination, Sawant said: "There is no community transmission in Goa. The active cases were found at borders and check-posts."

"All precautions are being taken," Sawant said, adding that there was huge pressure from the parents of the students to conduct these examinations.

--IANS

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