The West Bengal government on Sunday set up an expert committee to review the COVID-19 situation and to recommend whether to go ahead with the secondary and higher secondary exams or not.
“The government of West Bengal has formed an expert committee to review the situation and recommend whether to conduct/not to conduct the secondary and higher secondary exams. If yes, the mode of the conduction of exams. If not, the mode of evaluation criteria for the assessment,” a notification by the School Education Department read.
Opinion sought
The notification also invited opinion from the general public, guardians, parents, students by 2 p.m. on June 7. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has announced that the secondary examination will be held in the second week of August and the higher secondary exams in the last week of July. The State government, however, decided to have an expert opinion after the Union government decided to cancel the Class XII CBSE examinations. About 12 lakh students are expected to write the secondary exams and eight lakh the higher secondary examination.
Meanwhile, the State registered a drop in daily COVID-19 infections with 7,002 new cases recorded in the past 24 hours. The number of deaths in the past 24 hours was 107. The percentage of positive cases out of samples tested remained at 11.09%.
North 24 Parganas district continues to record the highest number of infections and deaths in West Bengal. The densely populated district registered 1,434 fresh infections in the past 24 hours and 34 deaths. West Bengal is under strict pandemic restrictions till June 15 and all forms of public transport, including metro and local train services, have been suspended. Markets are allowed to operate only three hours a day.
