West Bengal: Class 10, 12 Students Exempted From Pre-Final Tests Due To Covid-19, Says Mamata Banerjee

Class 10 and 12 students will not have to give pre-final tests due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

New Delhi: In what comes as a relief for students, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Wednesday that those students appearing for the Class X and Class XII exams will not be required to sit for their pre-final tests at the school level. The decision was taken due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. "Due to the ongoing COVID pandemic situation, the State Education Department has decided that students currently studying in classes 10th and 12th will not have their pre-final tests," said Banerjee in a report by ANI. A report by PTI says that the students will be allowed to appear for Madhyamik (Class 10) and Uchcha-Madhyamik (Class 12) exams directly. She informed that the recruitment process to fill up vacancies of 16,500 schoolteachers’ posts from the 20,000 candidates who have cleared the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) examinations will begin soon. "We have also decided to start the recruitment process to fill up 16,500 vacancies from the 20,000 successful TET examinees. Interviews will start in December and the entire recruitment process will be completed by January. The recruitment for the rest of the candidates will be made later in phases," she said in a PTI report. The state has at present 4,16,984 in the state including 32,836 active cases, 3,76,696 discharges and 7,452 deaths. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, many states have decided to open schools and colleges after months of shutdown since the lockdown. The Ministry of Home Affairs had allowed schools to reopen with the start of Unlock 4. Even though schools were expected to open from September many decided to continue keeping it closed for another month. From today, few states will reopen schools in a graded manner amid stringent Covid-19 precautions. Classes will be conducted in shifts with 50 percent capacity.