Chandigarh, January 3: The Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) will declare results 15 days after the last examination for Classes X and XII from the current session onwards. This was stated by Secretary, School Education, Krishan Kumar at a press conference here today.
A delay in the declaration of results in the past, often as late as May, has posed problems for students during admissions to higher classes, particularly in professional colleges outside the state.
Addressing the press conference, Education Minister Aruna Chaudhary said, “The department had made significant improvement in functioning to tide over crises in different branches.”
“Evaluation has been made mandatory for all schoolteachers. Earlier, a majority of the teachers did not participate in the exercise,” Kumar said.
“The department is starting one section in English medium in 1,953 government schools from April 1. At least 700 schools will be provided with 10 tabs each to aid IT-enabled education. The department has signed an MoU for free Internet and WiFi services for government schools from June onwards,” he said.
“The department has introduced a ‘Best School award’ in different categories for outstanding work to bring in greater accountability. The best schools at the primary level for all 217 blocks will get prize money of Rs 2 lakh each. Best schools at the district level for the middle, higher and senior secondary categories will be given cash prizes of Rs 5, 7 and 10 lakh, respectively,” he said.
Kumar informed that “in a new facility, students can get their papers re-evaluated in case they were not satisfied with their marking. Under the existing practice, the students could apply for recounting of their marks. The department has initiated action against at least 85 teachers in whose evaluated work there was a difference of more than 10 per cent”.
The PSEB has done away with the practice of giving any equivalence certificate to students from other boards. “We did not see any logic in a CBSE, Haryana or any other state board-pass student giving us any equivalence certificate,” Kumar said.
“Students will appear in board exams in schools other than their own,” Kumar said. “They will be offered centres near their schools. At least 217 schools have been asked to install CCTV cameras due to their record of allowing copying,” he said.
The secretary said from April 1, all certificates, including marks cards, would be available online. The department had also initiated work on digitising old records.
The government is going ahead with creating a separate cadre of teachers for border areas. The department conducted 2,602 inspections during the past four months. As many as 262 teachers were found reaching late, 73 were found absent and 78 absent for the past “very long time”, he said.
News Source: http://www.tribuneindia.com
