Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad on Sunday announced to cancel the last paper of Class X board examinations and also the second semester examinations of Class IX and XI.
“We had postponed the exams after the lockdown was announced. But now it has been extended till April 30, and as a result, we have taken the decision to cancel the exams altogether,” Ms. Gaikwad said.
The minister said since there would not be exams in the second semester, the students would be given marks based on the first semester exams, practicals, and assignments. “There will be an average of all the marks given in these, and a decision to promote the students to the next class will be taken.”
The State government is now faced with a problem of marking students appearing for the Class X board examinations. “The students of Class X had only one paper left but we cannot hold the exam for this, and therefore we have decided to cancel it,” she said.
Education Department officials said this is for the first time that the entire subject paper has been cancelled and they have no precedence on how to give marks to students in such a scenario. “There will be a committee to study this and we will finalise how to give marks to students in this case,” an official said.
Breather to consumers
Power Minister Nitin Raut on Sunday announced to defer fixed and demand charges for the industrial and commercial consumers during the lockdown for three months.
The State had declared a lockdown from March 22 to April 30. “As a result, industrial and commercial activities in the State have come to a halt. Hence the industrial and commercial consumer organisations were requesting some relief in the electricity bills,” Mr. Raut said.
As per the instructions, the last date for the payment of the bill for the month of the March has been extended up to May 15 and the last date for the month of April has been stretched up to May 31.
The industrial and commercial consumers will be issued 0 unit consumption bills for the lockdown period on the assumption of no use. However once the actual meter reading is taken after the lockdown, the difference will be recovered in case of the actual consumption. The usual concessions like load factor/PF and subsidy will remain as they are.
Following the lockdown due to COVID-19, the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission has issued guidelines for not taking meter reading during the period. Accordingly, billing will be as per the average monthly usage.
