Bihar To Promote Students Of Class 1 To 8 Without Annual Exams

Bihar Education Department has announced that all students in Primary and Elementary Schools (Classes 1 to 8) will be promoted to the next grade without conducting the annual exams. It has taken the decision due to uncertainty in the academic year 2020-21 caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. However, the Department is going ahead with Class 9 annual exams scheduled from February 26 to March 3, 2021.

The sources suggest that around 1.66 crore students have enrolled in Class 1 to 8 across all the government schools in the state. Last year, the Government has promoted students of Classes 1 to 8 to the next grade in April without conducting the annual academic exams due to the COVID-19 outbreak followed by a nation-wide lockdown.

"We have decided to conduct catch-up classes for three months to compensate the academic loss. Students will be taught fundamental topics of the current syllabus so that they don't face any difficulty while studying in the next grade," HT quoted Principal Secretary Sanjay Kumar as saying.

He also added, "We had a discussion with Pratham Education Foundation last week for holding catch-up classes and rolling out the new educational policy in the state. The bridge course will benefit especially those students who could not attend online classes due to lack of television, smartphone and internet facility. The catch-up classes are likely to begin in mid-March."

Currently, the Bihar Board (BSEB) is conducting the annual academic exams for Class 12 and Class 10. The BSEB Class 12 exams were conducted from February 1 to 13, 2021. The Board is conducting the Class 10 exams between February 17 and 24, 2021. The Board is likely to release the result in March.