New academic session to begin as Sindh schedule for exams
Karachi:23 April:In the pursuance of decisions taken by the steering committee meetings last month, the School Education and Literacy Department (SELD) in Sindh has issued a new schedule of the academic session 2020-21 starting from June 1.
The new timetable will be followed by all private and government-run schools, colleges and boards, including the Aga Khan University Examination Board and the Ziauddin University Education Board. However, the academic session of the Cambridge for the year 2020-21 will commence on August 1.
Annual exams
According to the new schedule issued last week, the Secondary School Certificate (part-I and II) Annual Examinations 2020 will start on June 15. Both theoretical and practical exams of the SSC part-I and II will be held in the evening shift. However, all examination boards across Sindh are bound to announce results of the SSC part-II by August 15, while the results of SSC part-I will be announced within 60 days after the announcement of results of class 10.
Similarly, the Higher Secondary School Certificate Annual Examinations 2020 will commence from July 6. The results of the HSSC part-II will be announced on September 15. The results of HSSC part-I will be announced within 60 days after the declaration of the HSSC part-II results.
Besides, the schools are allowed to decide the exam schedules for the students of grade one to three for their promotion to the next classes. But the schools are told to conduct the exams for the students of class four to eight from June 1 to June 15.
Admission schedule
The admission process for class one to eight will start from June 1 and the process will be completed by June 10. It has been decided that schools will start new classes by June 1 so that they can formally commence the new academic year.
At the higher secondary schools, pupils will secure provisional admission in class 11 in June on the basis of the results of class 9. However, their admissions will be confirmed after the announcement of the results of the SSC-part II examinations.
In Karachi, the provisional admissions in class 11 at the government-run colleges will be awarded as per the centralised admission policy through online system introduced by the Sindh College Education Department. Also, the enrolment numbers of pupils in class 11 and 12 will be placed on the website of the college education department.
New rules
Along with the new academic schedule, the school education department has also introduced some new examination rules for making the assessment process more transparent and effective.
The new rules read that any unauthorised persons, including reporters, will not be allowed to visit the exam centres, except for those who will have an authority card issued by the relevant examination board.
Bringing mobile phones, smartwatches, tablets or any other kind of communication devices to the exam centres are strictly prohibited. If such devices were found on any student, they would be confiscated and will not be returned. Similarly, if any candidate was found involved in cheating, they would not be allowed to sit the exams of the remaining subjects. In the same way, if any of the teaching and nonteaching staffers were found involved in facilitating the students with cheating stuff or if they were found involved in malpractices at the exam centres, their services would be dismissed.
The boards and the school education department will also issue a strict code of conduct for invigilators, as well as the department will create a WhatsApp group to keep in touch with the officials of all examination boards. Also, a mobile number will be given to the public for sharing information regarding cheating, malpractices and unfair means.
The informer will be awarded and a stern action will be taken against the culprits. For the security reasons, the inspector general of police will be requested to deploy more police personnel at the examination centres, while the home department will enforce Section
144 in the surrounding areas of the examination centres.
Holidays
According to the new academic calendar, the summer vacations will be from April 16 to May 30, while the winter vacations will be from December 12 to December 31.
The education department has also scheduled 15 other holidays. They are Kashmir Day on February 5, Shab-e-Mairaj in March, Pakistan Day on March 23, Shab-e-Barat in April, Labour Day on May 1, Youm-e-Ali in May, the 27th day of Ramazan, three days of Eid-ul-Fitr, three days of Eid-ul-Azha, Independence Day on 14 August, two days of Ashura in Muharram, Shah Abdul Latif Day on October 1, Chehlum Day in Safar, Eid Milad-un-Nabi Day in Rabiul Awwal and Quaid-e-Azam Day on December 25, 2020.
In the schedule, it has been mentioned that Eid Milad-un-Nabi, Independence Day, Shah Abdul Latif Day, Pakistan Day, and Kashmir Day will be observed at schools and colleges.The news.
