In a big relief for as many as 63,000 Class XII students of the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB), the Punjab Government on Wednesday decided to conduct their supplementary or re-appear examination on June 23.
Announcing the decision aimed at “saving the precious year of the students placed in compartment”, the state Education Minister Aruna Chaudhary said that the result for the same would be out in 10 days.
In the recently announced results for PSEB Class XII, as many as 38 per cent students failed to clear the examination.
Considering the same, the state government decided to advance the supplementary examinations by a month to “save” one academic year of the students, who would otherwise stand barred from seeking admission to the graduation courses. In general, the supplementary exams are conducted in the last week of July every year. “63,000 students have failed in a subject thus being placed in compartment. Considering multitude of factors like admission in next class, courses, or applying for a job, it has been decided to conduct the re-appear exam early,” she said.
The Minister said that the PSEB has been instructed to ensure implementation of this beneficial decision. The exam centers would be made at sub-divisional level, said the Minister.
Chaudhary elaborated that earlier, only science stream re-appear exam used to be conducted early but now re-appear exam of all the streams of Class XII would be conducted early. Only those failing in one subject are allowed to appear in the supplementary examinations. However, if a student fails to clear the Punjabi paper, he or she is considered to have failed in all subjects.
Of the total 3.14 lakh students, only 1.96 lakh could clear the examinations this year. The pass percentage also slipped to 62 as compared to over 76 during the last two academic years. The PSEB attributed it to strict monitoring and no grace marks.