Against any exams amid spike: Parents, students

NEW DELHI: With the Centre once again not able to decide on the pending Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Class 12 exams during a highlevel meeting on Sunday, students, parents, principals, and education experts expressed concerns over the delays, with many of them now demanding that the exams be cancelled entirely.

On Sunday, while the highlevel meeting, chaired by Union defence minister Rajnath Singh remained inconclusive, officials said the majority of states were in favour of conducting exams, regardless of the format.

Anand Saxena (17), a Class 12 student at a private school in south Delhi said, “While we are still struggling with the second wave of the pandemic and the possibility of a third wave, how is it even possible to conduct exams in such a situation? Who can take the guarantee that the situation will be better by July and August? We have been in Class 12 for the last 15 months. The government should cancel the exams and promote students using alternative methods of evaluation.”

Parents, too, said they weren’t in favour of letting students travel for exams till cases subsided completely.

Sweta Singh, the mother of a Class 12 student at a Mayur Vihar private school, said, “The government itself is conducting online meetings, but expects our 16-17-year-old children to appear in exams in person. We are not in favour of sending our children for exams till the number of cases comes to zero in the city.”

Several principals said the government should act promptly to stop the anxiety children have been facing for 15 months.

Ameeta Mulla Wattal, principal of Springdales School, Pusa Road, said, “We can’t leave students in the lurch. A clear decision needs to be taken, since children are going through a lot of mental stress... We need to come up with alternative criteria, since the pandemic continues to prevail. Students went through a lot of anxiety last year and the same is happening this year as well. We can also explore the possibility of delinking board exams from college entrance tests.”

AK Jha, principal of the government co-ed Sarvodaya Vidyalaya in Rohini, said conducting exams amid the ongoing surge may be extremely risky. “If the government conducts exams by August-september, cases may rise once again. Students who are sick with mild symptoms might conceal their illness and appear for the exams due to the fear of missing out on a year. Students can also carry home the virus and endanger their family members,” he said.

Educationist Meeta Sengupta said the government should think about doing away from the tradition of assessing the progress of students on the basis of “exams”.

“It takes a lot of courage to be safe. And educational leaders need to demonstrate this courage and move away from tradition. There are several ways to promote students, and they need to work towards that, rather than tinker with the exam as a filter,” she said.

Delhi education minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday hosted an Instagram live session with stakeholders including teachers, principals and students of Delhi schools and sought their suggestions on the matter.

Delhi government officials said the majority of school teachers and principals from the Capital who attended the session said that final grades should be awarded on the basis of unit tests, practical examinations, general tests and preboard exams that have already conducted in February-march this year.