‘GOVT PLAYING WITH OUR LIVES BY CONDUCTING OFFLINE EXAMS’

MUMBAI: With the state education department being firm on conducting exams for SSC (Class 10) and HSC (Class 12) offline this year, a large number of students have been protesting the move across the state.

While students from Mumbai, Nashik and Nagpur protested the decision early this week, those from Pune assembled outside the state board office on Friday morning to express their disappointment with the move. “The government is playing with our lives by conducting offline exams. With the growing cases of Covid-19, it is a big risk for students to write their exams in the physical format. We hope that the decision is reconsidered, and online exams are allowed at least wherever possible,” said one of the protesting students from HSC.

Anubha Sahai, president of Indiawide Parents Association which has been writing to the department urging the cancellation of offline exams, said, “Students are demanding 50% weightage to internal assessments at the school level and 50% to exams. Similarly, they hope for an increase in the number of objective questions and a syllabus reduction of 50%,” said Sahai.

An official from the education department said that offline exams will not be cancelled. “Considering the issues of access to online exams, it is only logical to conduct exams offline. Students should not worry as all precautions concerning Covid-19 protocols will be followed strictly,” said the official.

While the HSC exams will be held between April 23 and May 21, SSC exams will be conducted between April 29 and May 20. Students will get their schools and junior colleges as exam centres as per an announcement made by the board last week.