Clearing the air, Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani said on Thursday that the board examinations for Matriculation and Intermediate students will not be held this year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The provincial education minister, in a statement, said that the students will be promoted without exams.Ghani said that a legislative change or an amendment will be required to promote the students to next class, adding that the decision to pass the students is final. He added that the decision to not hold exams was taken by Sindh government’s Education Steering Committee. While addressing a press conference later in the day, the provincial minister said that all the students will get an additional 3% marks at the time of promotion to the next grade. “Our entire system of holding examinations and issuing results have been disturbed,” he said, adding that the new system has been introduced in the time of crisis. Ghani said that those who have failed will be given passing marks for promotion into next class. He said that the education department officials are in contact with the Higher Education Commission regarding relevant issues in the procedure. He said that the meetings of the steering committee will continue to iron out the snags in the decision regarding promotion without exams. Last week, the government announced to close educational institutes until July 15 while cancelling board exams until the end of this year. Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood said that due to the ongoing crisis, the board examinations for the ninth grade to intermediate (12th grade) will not be held. He said that students will be promoted on the basis of the last years’ exams, adding that on this basis, students will be admitted to universities over their intermediate first-year results. Earlier, Ghani said that schools may not reopen for another six months in Sindh and a new online curriculum will soon be introduced. He said that schools in Sindh will not reopen on June 1 and that a new date will be notified later.
