Students’ promotion after cabinet nod: HED

LAHORE:In the light of federal government’s decision to promote Class-9 and Class-11 students to next classes across Punjab, Higher Education Department (HED) has once again moved a summary to the Law Department seeking provincial cabinet approval for the same.

An HED official told The News that since there was no provision of promoting students to next classes without board examinations in the Acts of all the nine Boards of Intermediate & Secondary Education (BISEs) of the province, approval of the provincial cabinet was required to implement the federal government’s decision. He said a summary was also moved in the past but the same was returned with minor objections by the Law Department. It is pertinent to mention that in the wake of campuses’ closure and suspension of academic activities vis-à-vis COVID-19, Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood had announced promoting all students of Class-9 and Class-11 across the country to next classes without board examination on May 13.

The HED official said that the decision would be implemented immediately following approval of the provincial cabinet so that the admission process could take place across the province afterwards.

Meanwhile, as the BISEs in Punjab had already conducted Class-10 exams before the closure, the result by all the nine Boards is expected to be declared in the second week of September.

PU online exams

Punjab University will make its first-ever attempt to conduct BA/BSc and Associate Degree Part-II Annual Examinations 2020 online on Wednesday (today).

The exams, to be conducted online, are not mandatory for the candidates and will continue until 4 September, 2020. PU administration had already announced that all those candidates who did not want to appear in online exams would be allowed to sit-in traditional exams to be held after the Punjab government’s directions vis-à-vis COVID-19 related situation.

The university made it clear that candidates failing in the online exams could also appear in the traditional exams without any extra fee while their chances for exams would also remain intact.