Centres in Maharashtra, Karnataka too for Goa Board exams, says CM Pramod Sawant

Class X and XII students who study in Goan schools, but live in villages just across the state’s borders in Maharashtra and Karnataka, will be accommodated in exam centres within their respective states, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Tuesday.

“Permissions are being taken from the Maharashtra administration and the local MLA for holding of exams,” Sawant said.

More than 11,000 students are scheduled to appear for the SSC exams and several thousand more are expected to appear for the remainder of the HSSC examinations, which are scheduled to begin on May 21. The examination schedule was disrupted due to the prolonged lockdown which has been in force on account of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sawant said that in some cases, students from across the state’s borders in the subdistricts of Bicholim and Canacona, were studying in Goans schools and in order to facilitate their appearance for the exams, state education department officials were in touch with their counterparts in the neighbouring states.

“Our Director, Education and chairman of the Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education is talking to them. Schools (in other states) also have been inspected,” Sawant said.

The special examination centres are being created in Maharashtra and Karnataka for the students appearing for the exams to overcome the hassle for them having to cross state borders which have been blocked due to the lockdown.