Working on a twin objective of providing supportive environment to the students, besides giving them a level playing field ahead of the board examinations, the Punjab Government has issued directions to the district administrations to check noise pollution on the one hand and for ending the prevailing system of self examination centres on the other.
It was decided that the examination centres should be set up in the Government schools, and should not be more than three kilometres away.
Doing away with no self-examination centre policy — primarily aimed at curbing the menace of cheating— the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) has issued instructions to all district education officers to ensure that no school be allowed to hold examination at its own premises.
Even the examination centres for the private schools should also be set up in the government schools — a move strictly opposed by the private school managements citing the badly equipped government schools.
Under the self-centre system, students of a school appear for exams in their own schools. At the same time, it has also been directed to ensure that no centre be located more than three kms away from the school for the students. Earlier, the limit was fixed at seven kms which was strongly opposed by various organisations especially in case of girl students.
The orders, signed by PSEB secretary, read that the orders be implemented in letter and spirit. It added that the number of students should not be less than 40.
Defending the move, a senior education department official said that PSEB is taking various initiatives to check copying or cheating during exams, and ending self-centre system is one of them.
Videography of many sensitive centres has also been ordered, added the official, while talking with The Pioneer.
PSEB has announced Class X examinations from March 12 till March 31, while the exams for Class XII will commence on February 28 and will conclude by March 24. Over three lakh students have been registered for these examinations this year.
The Board will conduct the exams in different shifts for both the classes — between 10 am and 1:15 pm for Class X, and from 2 pm to 5:15 pm for Class XII.
The results for both Class X and XII examinations are expected to be announced by the last week of May. The government has already claimed to declare the results of Classes X and XII within 15 days of the end of examinations.
The Education Department has prepared a mobile application wherein teachers would enter the students’ data or numbers after checking the papers, and the app would itself compile all the information facilitating the Department to prepare the result.
Besides, the Department has also increased the number of evaluation centres from 168 to 400, besides making it mandatory for all teachers to be part of the process of checking papers.
PPCB directs district admns to act tough to control noise pollution
In view of the annual exams, the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) has asked all the District Administrations to act tough to check the noise pollution in the state.
The Board has directed both the civil and police administrations to strictly implement the Supreme Court directives to check the use of loudspeakers in religious places and DJ systems in the wedding functions, among others, during night hours from 10 pm to 6 am.
The directions have been issued to the Deputy Commissioners, Police Commissioners and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSPs).
“The Board had earlier also requested the district authorities to implement the notification issued by the Department of Science, Technology and Environment in regard with the SC orders to stop playing of loudspeakers in religious places and DJ systems in the marriage functions,” said PPCB chairman Kahan Singh Pannu.
“Now, they were also requested to direct the sub-divisional magistrates (SDMs) to organize meetings of the local parbhandhak committees of the Gurudwaras, Mandirs and other religious places at the tehsil, block and village levels so as develop a system that the voice from the speakers must remain within their premises,” he said.
Pannu pointed that the Sikhs highest temporal seat — Akal Takht — had already issued a hukamnama (edict) in this regard on November 23, 2005, that the voice of the recitation of gurbani and kirtan must remain within the premises. But still the edict is yet to be followed in true letter and spirit, he said.
“Keeping in mind the examinations of the students in the months to come, the Board has directed the district administration to convince the local parbhandhak committees of the religious places to keep the noise from their address system within their premises. And, to implement the orders of the Supreme Court, they should act in a way to develop the people opinion against noise pollution,” he said.
Pannu has also appealed to the religious personalities and owners of the marriage palaces in the state to come forward and cooperate with the Board to contain noise pollution in the larger interests of the students of Punjab.