During a video conference on Tuesday, Punjab chief minister (CM) Captain Amarinder Singh asked Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi to review UGC’s decision to conduct exams for exit classes in September.
Citing the state’s rising Covid cases, which is at 24,891 with 604 deaths, the CM said, “Punjab may not be in a position to conduct exams in September as it may be facing its coronavirus peak at that time.” He suggested that students be promoted on past performance and internal assessment, with the option to take exams later for those wanting to improve their performance.
Punjab also sought the Centre’s assistance for online school education, especially for economically weaker children of classes 10 and 12. “More money was needed for creating the infrastructure required to support online education”, he said.
With a 50% decline in revenue in the first fiscal quarter of Punjab, Amarinder also sought a liberal financial package from the PM for states to fill the collection gap caused by the pandemic, and also flexibility on Covid-related terms of expenditure in the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).
He said, “The current cap of 35% in the SDRF for Covid-related expenditure, as per MHA guidelines, is not sufficient to meet the current requirements.”
The CM also thanked the Centre for accepting Punjab’s proposal to set up a National Institute of Virology for the North Zone saying the state government would soon give 25 acres of land for the institute.
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