COVID-19 impact: AHSEC cancels HS 1st year exams, students to be promoted to HS 2nd year

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: The Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC) has cancelled the HS 1st year examinations and promoted all the candidates who filled in forms for the examinations to HS 2nd year. The Council is likely to declare the results of the HS final examinations 2020 by June 25.

Talking to The Sentinel on the HS 1st year examinations, AHSEC Controller of Examinations Pankaj Barthakur said, “The HS 1st year examinations were scheduled to be held from March 25-April 10, 2020. However, the examinations couldn’t be held as scheduled because of the first phase of the COVID-19 lockdown. Now the lockdown has been extended up to May 3, 2020. If we conduct the HS 1st year examinations after the lockdown i.e. after May 3, it will take at least one month. Since the academic session for 2020-21 is going to start from April 24, 2020; organizing the HS 1st year examinations now will hamper the students by delaying the start of the academic session. In such a situation, the Council has decided to cancel the HS 1st year examinations and promote all candidates who have filled in the examination forms to HS 2nd year without examinations.”

Barthakur added that 2,31,238 students were scheduled to take the HS 1st year examinations in Science, Commerce and Arts streams.

When asked on the HS final year examination results for the academic session 2019-20, Barthakur said, “Last year the results of HS final year examinations were declared on May 25. However, we cannot stick to that date for the declaration of HS 2nd year results this year because of the lockdown. The results may be delayed by a month this year, probably by June 25.

“Evaluation of the answer scripts has not been completed. There are 48 answer script evaluation zones in the State. The Commissioner-Secretary of the Education department has written to the Deputy Commissioners to ensure that evaluators don’t face any problem while proceeding to the evaluation zones during the lockdown period.”

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