Rajasthan Government to Conduct Optional Board Exams for Class VIII

The Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje announced on 18 February that an education board for Class VIII is to be set up for the state, who will conduct an optional board examination for Class VIII students across all the government schools in the state. The aim of introducing optional board exam is to raise the standard of education as well as students to incorporate competitive instinct.

Minister Rajendra Rathore said that due to the directives of RTE (Right to Education), no exams are conducted for students of up to Class VIII, which has brought down the standard of education. Hence, the proposal of holding optional board exams for class VIII was also discussed in the meeting, which have received green signal from the Cabinet. Appearing for this mode of examination is solely based on students or their parent’s decision, he added.

Another proposals approved by the cabinet include re-appointment of retired specialised doctors on a pay minus pension plan as well as running of primary health centres (PHC) on a public-private partnership mode on the lines of Gujarat.

In addition, the state government has thought about the over-all development of villages who have population of less than 5,000 people. For such villages SHREE (sanitation, health, rural connectivity, education and electricity) project has been launched, which will be a pilot project in Bharatpur division and later will be expanded to other divisions, said Rathore.

Fulfilling a promise made by BJP in their manifesto is also to be undertaken that is formation of the cow breeding department.