Amid hue and cry from stakeholders, the J&K State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT) said that the class 8th examinations were postponed after receiving representations from the Directorate of School Education Kashmir (DSEK) and J&K Service Selection Board (SSB).
Talking to Greater Kashmir, Director SCERT Prof Parikshit Singh Manhas said the SCERT announced the postponement of the class 8th examination to avoid clashes in exams conducted by other organisations in government and to avoid inconveniences for the students in snow-bound areas.
SCERT has also received an official communication from SSB stating that the organisation was holding exams on March 10 and 17, 2024, which were coinciding with the date sheet announced by SCERT for class 8th students.
“It has been learnt that the SCERT has issued a date sheet for the conduct of examinations for class 8th on different dates including March 10 and 17, 2024. On the same days, SSB is conducting examinations for the post of Sub Inspector and Inspector,” reads a letter addressed to Director SCERT.
“In this connection, I am directed to request you to kindly reschedule the examination scheduled by SCERT for March 10 and 17 and also not to fix any exam on the other dates for which SSB has already notified the examination calendar as all the necessary steps are being taken up in coordination with the district administration for the said examination,” it reads.
The SSB has scheduled the exam for the Patwari post on March 31st as well.
In a separate communication, the DSEK has said that the date sheet notified by DIET Bandipora for classes 1st to 9th from March 20 was not feasible for the students hailing from Gurez who are presently stuck in Bandipora and other areas due to the closure of roads.
Gurez falls in a hard zone which remains cut off during winters.
“CEO Bandipora has submitted that many representations have been received by him to postpone the examinations for students of Gurez and is a very pressing demand. Keeping in view these facts, it is requested to issue necessary instructions to the concerned to postpone the examinations for the students of Gurez for about a week and by the time the connectivity to Gurez is restored, students will get ample time to reach back to their respective residences,” reads a communication received from DSEK.
Director SCERT said that to maintain uniformity and avoid clashes with exams organized by other boards, such as SSB, the class 8th exams were postponed.
The SCERT also received a representation from the Christian community, where it was stated that the class 8th examination scheduled for March 29 coincides with Good Friday.
“It will be difficult for the students of the Christian community to write exams on the day which is being celebrated as the holy festival. We request the SCERT to reschedule the exam of March 29,” reads a representation received from President All India Masih Seva Dal Camres David.
The SCERT received severe criticism for postponing all the scheduled exams of class 8th.
The stakeholders raised questions about the poor preparation of the officers tasked with conducting the class 8th examination in the hard and soft zones of J&K.
However, the Director clarified that there were no ill-preparedness or other issues that forced the SCERT to postpone the exams.
“The exam was postponed only to acknowledge the representations received from different quarters,” he said.
Outcry over the postponement of the Class 8th exam
The J&K State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT) has come under severe criticism for postponing all the scheduled exams of class 8th.
The stakeholders have raised questions about the poor preparation of the officers tasked with conducting the class 8th examination in hard and soft zones of Jammu and Kashmir.
On Saturday, the SCERT notified the postponement of the exams scheduled on March 24, 26, and 29, 2024 in soft zones and March 26 and 29, 2024, scheduled in hard zones of J&K citing that representations for postponement of exams were received from various quarters.
However, a top official said that the exam was postponed due to the poor preparation of the employees entrusted to conduct the class 8th examination across J&K.
“There were issues with the printing and distribution of question papers to complex heads due to which the exams were postponed. Otherwise, no representation was received from anyone,” the official said, wishing not to be named.
As per the official communication available with Greater Kashmir, the Joint Director SCERT on March 22 had written to the Director SCERT to postpone the exam of Regional Language subject scheduled on March 24 citing paucity of time in distribution of confidential material to the schools.
The communication hinted at the ill-preparedness of SCERT, particularly the team of employees entrusted with conducting the class 8th exams.
In an official communication, Joint Director SCERT has written to Director SCERT that the confidential material of the middle standard examination 2023-24 should be dispatched on March 23, 2024, in respect of the Kashmir division.
“Regional Language paper of soft zone already notified to be held on March 24, 2024, needs to be rescheduled as the Regional Language paper should not be supplied on the same date due to paucity of time,” the official communication reads.
The Joint Director said that the Regional Language paper scheduled on March 24 in respect of the soft zone might be rescheduled for April 7, 2024, along with the hard zone paper of Regional Languages.
Amid the postponement of the exams, teachers and other stakeholders expressed concern over the move, saying that the delay in completing the exams is wasting academic days.
“SCERT has postponed all three papers of class 8th without giving any genuine reasons. They should have not issued a date sheet if they were not prepared to hold the exam. They are deliberately creating problems for school kids,” a school teacher said, wishing not to be named.
Another school teacher said that they made a mockery of the 8th grade exam by announcing the postponement at the last moment.
“As if it was any national-level competitive exam. They are not able to conduct class 8th exams. The reason for this mess is that the department has not deputed competent people at SCERT,” the teacher said.
Recently, the JKSCERT faced massive criticism as numerous District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs) failed to maintain the quality of examination papers of class 8th, resulting in significant inconveniences for students. The students complained that the concerned DIETs used very small fonts for Urdu question papers, causing inconveniences to them, besides using poor paper quality for printing.
