The administration of Jammu and Kashmir has announced to close all the schools till April 18, 2020. The decision has been taken due to the rising number of Covid-19 cases. The education board has asked all the district magistrates to take a call on the suspension of physical classes and the closure of schools in their areas, considering the safety of the students amid the sudden spike of Covid-19 cases across the union territory.
The order regarding the decision to shut down schools, issued by Deputy Secretary Umesh Sharma of the School Education Department, said the chief education officer and other authorities would assist district magistrates in taking such decisions. The board had issued the direction after dozens of students and teachers tested positive for coronavirus in different districts, mostly in Anantnag, Kulgam, and Budgam over the past couple of days.
An official order released by the government states, “All district magistrates / District Disaster Management Authorities’ chairmen in Jammu K shall take a call on the continuation of academic activities i.e. physical classes or online classes in their respective jurisdictions, keeping in view the safety of students and present trend of Covid-19 pandemic in different districts.”
Many students are also urging the administration to shut down the schools for the time being due to the surge in Covid-19 cases in Jammu and Kashmir. If the schools are closed in the union territory, all classes and activities will be shifted to online mode.
The Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (JKBOSE) has started the conduction of the J&K class 12 board exams 2021 from April 1 this year. The exams are being conducted in offline mode with many Covid-19 safety measures in place.
The board exams are being conducted from 11 am and are set to conclude on April 29, 2021. The exams have only started for Science and Arts stream students from April 1 while the exams for students of Commence and Home Science stream will start from April 5
The order referred to the earlier government orders and guidelines on Covid-19 containment measures and said it has been observed that the surge of the pandemic has wide variation among districts.
