The Punjab cabinet committee has not yet approved a summary to assign grades to students appearing for matriculation and intermediate exams through the Punjab Education Boards, Daily Times reported on Thursday. The summary was created in 2019 three years ago. During these three years, results were supposed to be shifted to a grading system instead of numbers. As per the summary, in 2019 the students were supposed to get numbers, in 2020 students would be getting grades along with the numbers, but in 2021, matric and inter students who took exams were supposed to get grades only. The policy aimed to lower the percentage of students by giving those grades instead of numbers. As a result of the political unrest in the province, summery has been pending before the cabinet committee this year, so students will now receive numbers rather than grades. Moreover, all intermediate and secondary education boards (BISE) of Punjab have recommended an increase of service charges fees by up to three percent. A recommendation has been forwarded to the Punjab Boards Committee of the Chairman. The certificate fee has been proposed to increase from Rs500 to Rs700. Urgent certificate fee proposed to increase from Rs3000 to Rs5000. The visit fee of private educational institutions has been proposed to increase to Rs25,000 from Rs10,000. Boards proposed that the Annual Endowment Fund fee may be increased from Rs50,000 to Rs60,000 while colleges’ endowment fund fee has been increased from Rs125,000 to Rs150,000. On the other side, Higher Education Commission (HEC) has urged the university students, faculty members and alumni of Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) to secure certifications from world-renowned universities to improve the quality of teaching and learning across the board. The Coursera initiative of HEC is one of the steps in this direction. It is strongly recommended that all HEIs may encourage faculty members to effectively utilize the courses available on Coursera to qualify for at least one relevant course. https://twitter.com/hecpkofficial/status/1552536822047195138?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1552536822047195138%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.twitter.com%2F%3Fquery%3Dhttps3A2F2Ftwitter.com2Fhecpkofficial2Fstatus2F1552536822047195138widget%3DTweet Capacity building through MOOCS is one of the simplest and most affordable ways to strengthen the required skills that students and faculty members need to stay abreast of the latest developments. For more detail, please visit https://dlsei.hec.gov.pk/ Digital Learning and Skills Enrichment Initiative (DLSEI) is an HEC initiative, which intends to provide an opportunity to students and faculty members of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to secure certifications from world-renowned universities, which will enhance their learning capabilities and skills for professional development. A verified certificate from a world-renowned online platform can serve as proof for an employer that someone is abreast with cutting-edge tools and skills needed for a competitive career. Innovation and technologies are influential ways to change the skills workers need in today’s economy. It’s perceived that up to 85M jobs are to be required by 2025 and governments are facing a significant talent-gap to support digital transformation efforts.