Pvt schools seek exemption from SBE schedule

ITANAGAR, Jan 8: The government’s decision to conduct the state board examinations (SBE) for Classes 5-8 has reportedly affected the private schools in Lower Subansiri HQ Ziro.
A group of private schools’ owners and administrators, under the aegis of the Ziro unit of the Private Schools and Children Welfare Association India (PSCWAI), has written to the education minister, pleading with him to exempt their schools from the state board examinations.
In its representation, the association stated that the private schools in Ziro follow a different academic calendar which would be “badly affected” by the state board exams schedule.
It said the private schools of Ziro already set
the academic calendar for the students from LKG to Class 8 in August 2018. According to the calendar, the academic session starts in the first week of March and continues upto the last week of November, and the annual vacation is from the first week of December to 15 February.
Justifying the move, the PSCWAI unit said that the decision was made in view of the extreme winters in the Ziro valley.
As per the government notification, all government-aided or unaided private schools fall under the purview of the Arunachal Pradesh State Board Examination with effect from the 2019-20 academic session.
The PSCWAI unit said that the private schools announced their vacation on 1 December, 2019, and that “it would be an unbearable burden on the students of private schools under the state board examination.”
When contacted, the education secretary said that it was decided to hold the state board exams together for all the schools the state “in order to give uniformity and equal ground to all schools and not to create precedence.”