Latest CBSE decisions amid Covid-19: Direct promotions to selective board exams

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) took the step of postponing all examinations from classes 1 to 8 as soon as the virus reached the country. In mid-March, the Board took the decision of postponing all the papers that were left in the Board Exam until further notice.

Below mentioned are some of the potential decisions taken by CBSE regarding the academic developments of school students amid the coronavirus outbreak:

One-time measures proposed by CBSE:

• ·        Students of classes 1 to 8 may be promoted to the higher grade without conducting exams. This decision will be taken after adequate consultation with NCERT.
• ·        Many schools have not yet conducted the annual examination for classes 9 and 11. These schools include all the Kendriya Vidyalayas, Naodaya Vidyalayas and some other government and provate schools. These schools are advised to promote the students of class 9 and 11 to the higher grade based on their performance in project work, periodic tests, term exams, etc. conducted so far.
• ·        When it comes to rescheduling the board examinations for classes 10 and 12, CBSE has not yet made the final decision of if and when the examinations will be conducted. The Board will be giving a minimum 10 day notice to all stakeholders before scheduling the examinations again.
• ·        As the Board was not able to conduct several board examinations for classes 10 and 12, they have decided to only conduct board examinations for main subjects that are required for promotion and admission into higher educational institutes.
• ·        For CBSE schools located outside India, it will be difficult to bring the answer booklets for class 10 and 12 students back to India for checking due to the current situation. So, the Board has decided not to hold any examinations for class 10 and 12 students studying in CBSE schools outside India.
• ·        Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the board has not been able to continue with the evaluation process of answer sheets as per schedule. Though the board has not reached a decision yet regarding the issue, they will notify all concerned parties 3 to 4 days before the evaluation process will be set to commence again.
• ·        To avoid being misled by rumours, all stakeholders are hereby informed to only trust the official announcements by the Board that are made on the Board’s website.
• ·        All schools are requested to ensure that this information is disseminated to all concerned students by their respective schools.

Amid the covid-19 pandemic, the Board has also requested all their stakeholders and concerned parties to be patient for further instructions. Though the situation might not seem in the favour of students currently studying in CBSE schools, the Board is trying to ensure that their academic future is secure.

For latest sample questions for CBSE 2021, register free at www.clarefy.com

#clarefy

#OdishaOnlineExams

#CBSE2021

Children and coronavirus: what we know and don't know

As the number of Covid-19 cases rises worldwide, parents trying to protect their children from the disease can take solace in one thing: the disease has generally been milder in children.

“Its pretty clear from all of the data who is ending up in hospital and who is dying. Severe disease is very rare in children, Its not yet completely clear whether this is because children are not being infected as regularly or do they just not get sick. Some of these children have a large amount of virus but they weren’t very sick,” said Williams.

Last week, there was a paper released from the Chinese Centers of Disease Control looking at people getting sick and who they had come into contact with, which suggested the rates of infection in children are just as common as in adults. The new research also suggested that perhaps the virus could be shed in fecal matter from children.

“People have looked at this a lot for SARS-CoV2 in adults and children and have found viral RNA in the stool, its not currently clear what this means – the secretions from our nose, respiratory viruses go into our esophagus to be swallowed, happens constantly with respiratory viruses,” said Williams, noting that there is evidence of other respiratory viruses in the stools of infected individuals.

“The question is, can it be transmitted to others via fecal material? This is likely most relevant with kids with diapers. All of us can have low level experience exposure of fecal material by poor hand washing but the only time you’re really exposed to a lot of fecal material is when we are changing kids diapers,” said Williams

However just because genetic traces from viruses are found in fecal matter does not mean that contact with fecal matter can make people sick. The viruses could be dead meaning that they can no longer infect people, but can still be picked up.

“This is really in contrast to a virus like norovirus (cruise ship virus) where people shed billions of virus particles in their fecal material and its easily transmitted person to person,” said Williams.

To prove that virus from fecal material could actually infect others, scientists would need to culture it from fecal samples in a special biosafety containment area, but these experiments have not yet been done. So overall, should parents be reassured by this study?

“Yes, I think so. It’s a small study, but every large or small piece of data we are getting suggests kids don’t get severe disease from this virus, although they get infected at similar rates and they might be spreaders of the virus,” said Williams.

However, there are many unknowns about coronavirus, and research is ongoing. Here is what we know now.

Can children catch coronavirus?

Yes. They can be infected with and appear to be able to transmit coronavirus, even if they do not have symptoms. That is why it is important for children to practice social distancing and hand-washing, even if they do not appear ill.

How does coronavirus affect children?

It is generally believed to cause milder symptoms in children, but the specific impacts by age are becoming clearer as the outbreak goes on.

Much of what we know today is based on reports out of China, where the outbreak began. There 2.4% of all identified cases were in children under 19 years old. An even smaller number within this group of children had severe symptoms, 2.5%, or what the World Health Organization (WHO) described as “a very small proportion”. But more research is being done and a clearer picture is still emerging.

Why does coronavirus affect children differently?

That remains unknown. Dr Jay C Butler, deputy director of infectious disease at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said, “The phenomenon is very significant,” on a live-streamed show hosted by the Journal of the American Medical Association, but that the mechanisms are “really unknown”.

People aged 60 and older or with existing health conditions remain the most vulnerable to the coronavirus. That includes people with conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease and chronic respiratory conditions, according to the WHO.


www.clarefy.com