Class 9, 11 exams to be held in schools by April 24: Goa Board 

The Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education has asked all its schools in the state to conduct examinations for Classes 9 and 11 students by calling them to the educational institutions. In a circular dated January 8, the board's secretary, Geraldina L Mendes, has said all the exams for Classes 9 and 11 shall be finished by April 24, 2021, to enable schools to provide infrastructure and manpower for the conduct of the board exams, which are going to start from April 26.

Schools for Classes 10 and 12 in Goa reopened in November last year, after being shut for nearly eight months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while classes for all other standards are currently being conducted online.

"In view of the prevailing pandemic situation and availability of limited number of instructional and working days, the schools are hereby requested to conduct examination, that is theory and pratical for Classes ninth and eleventh for the academic year 2020-21 by calling students to the schools," the circular reads.

The board has given liberty to the schools to conduct the exams as per their convenience. "Those schools which have already conducted the first mid-term and first term exams need not conduct it again," the circular reads. The schools are also given liberty to set the papers of the first and second terms will full weightage or with 50 per cent weightage, and then convert it into full weightage.

The circular has said schools can set their own papers as per the coverage of the portion. The state board has already announced that 30 per cent of the syllabus would be reduced for the current academic year. Till Saturday, Goa reported a total of 51,790 cases of coronavirus and 746 deaths due to the infection, as per official figures.