Goa Board to adopt ‘wait and watch’ policy over exams

PANAJI: Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education had called a meeting of its executive council on Friday afternoon, where the body was informed of the circumstances under which the scheduled Class X and XII public exams were postponed. The executive council members were told that the state government had taken the decision to defer the exams based on inputs received from the state disaster management authorities.
Officials said that as announced by the chief minister and education minister Pramod Sawant, the new dates for the public exams will be declared at least 15 days prior to the start of the tests.
The Goa Board has decided to take a ‘wait and watch’ stance at present given the spread of Covid-19 infections in the state.
While the Class XII exams were scheduled to begin from April 24, the Class X exams were set to start from May 19. Around 19,200 students have registered for the Class XII exams and over 23,000 students for the Class X exams.
The Goa Board has already prepared separate SOPs for this year’s public exams. As per the SOPs, students answering the board exam have to assemble earlier than usual at 8.30am at their exam centre and volunteers deployed by the board will escort the students to their exam hall.
The board has recommended double masking with a cloth mask worn over an N95 mask.
Invigilators have been instructed to take the attendance of candidates without passing the sheets around.
Conductors have been advised to ensure that students extend their hands for thermal scan only after sanitizing their hands.
As ‘legal advice’, Goa Board has instructed all sub-centres to ‘maintain photographic record for each paper for each hall at each centre showing candidates maintaining social distancing and wearing masks.’
As ‘legal advice’, Goa Board has instructed all sub-centres to ‘maintain photographic record for each paper for each hall at each centre showing candidates maintaining social distancing and wearing masks