Saeed Ghani Says All Students From Grades 1 to 11 Getting Promoted In Sindh

KARACHI– All students of Sindh from classes one to 11 will be passed and promoted to the next grade, Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani said.

“Each and every student will be given an extra 3% marks and will be promoted to the next grade,” he said in a media briefing on Sunday.

The minister said that even those students who had failed their classes will be passed via grace marks. This way, no student in the province will be failed or left behind.

“The students of classes 10 and 12 will be passed on the basis of their previous board results,” Ghani explained. “There has been a confusion regarding how students of classes nine and 11 will be graded.

“As we don’t have records of their previous results, these students will be passed without any percentages or marks,” he revealed, adding that next year when these students will give their exams for grade 10 and 12, their results for that year and the previous year will be considered to be the same. This means that for both classes, next year’s result will be considered.

Ghani pointed that those students who wanted to reappear for their exams to improve their grades can do so next year. “This term no special examinations will take place,” he said.

The fee paid for these exams will be carried forward to next year.

The minister added that these decisions were taken as the government did not know when it will reopen schools due to the situation created by the coronavirus pandemic.

On the other hand, the Private Schools Management Association has announced that they will reopen schools from June 15. The association’s Chairperson Sharful Zaman has demanded that the government either let them resume schools or pay their expenses until December.

“We will see how many people the government can arrest,” he said.

All Pakistan Private Schools Association Vice-Chairperson Tariq Shah emphasised that students were suffering a huge academic loss because of the closure.

“Now that everything has reopened, why not schools?” he questioned, adding that a list of SOPs was already being prepared.

The safety measures included dividing schools hours into three shifts to implement social distancing. A class will be divided into two sections. Sanitiser, masks and gloves will also be provided to students, Shah added.

The association has also announced that offices of all schools will be reopened from June 1 and teachers and staff will be called in for work.