SHOULD CLASS 12 HSC EXAMINATIONS BE CANCELLED?

Despite repeated appeals from students to cancel the H SC offline examination sin view of C OVID -19 risks, the state government has not provided any clarity yet. Students have repeatedly posted their demand son social media platforms with# cancel 12 th board exams 2021 tr ending almost daily in the past week. So far, the exams have been postponed to May-end. However, students demand clarity on whether they will be postponed further, cancelled or conducted online. Students have also suggested the state board devise an internal assessment marking policy and cancel the exams.FPJ asked its readers -` To end the uncertainty, should the H SC exams be cancelled and students’ promotions be decided on internal assessment ?’ Here’ s what across-section of Mu mb aika rs had to say:

In

this pandemic situation, exams can be cancelled and promotions can be decided through internal assessment. Health and life are a priority. Only if these are there, all other aspects of life will come into play.

— Prabhakar Bind, senior accountant

Students

are mentally drained and the uncertainty is adding to the misery. Indeed, the government should just cancel the HSC exams and students' promotion should be decided through internal assessment. I hope the government would take a decision considering the problems of HSC students.

— Yaman Tiwari, computer engineer

My

brother who is in Class 12 is extremely stressed about his HSC board exams. The exams should be cancelled and a policy should be formulated to mark students on the basis of their previous performance. Students need to be relieved of the stress because already they are going through a catastrophic time with the COVID-19 situation around.

— Hitesh Ojha, freelance web developer Exams should be cancelled. There’s no point taking online exams right now. This uncertainty will cost the students heavily and waste their year, which should be avoided. Exams can be taken next year when everything is normal. Passing and promoting is the need of the hour.

— Aishwarya Gurav, software developer

The government will have to come up with some solution to this problem and cannot keep the student community under stress and waiting for long. It seems very unlikely that exams would be possible given the circumstances. Also, future career plans as well as decisions of students depend on HSC marks. Therefore, it should not be a random move on how to conduct the exams given the COVID-19 scenario, but a proper thoughtful decision taken by academicians and experts on this subject looking at the worldwide situation. — Ramesh Naidu, Sion resident

Yes,

because cases of COVID-19 are increasing every day and conducting offline exams would be risky. People are already unable to find beds in hospitals for treatment and doctors and healthcare workers are already working under pressure. Students appearing for HSC exams should be promoted based on their past per formance.

— Seema Datte, Mulund resident

Ithink

there is no question of taking exams considering the worsening pandemic situation. Sudden exams will also put undue pressure on the students who are already psychologically upset due to the present scenario. It's better and safe to just promote them through internal assessments.

— Viraf Jehangir Kapadia, doctor

Students of Class

12 are approaching mental health helplines because they are facing anxiety issues at such a young age. They keep stressing about whether their exams will be cancelled or whether they will be compelled to step out and appear for exams amidst the pandemic. The state government and school education department should take a decision and provide clarity soon.

— Grace Roy, counsellor

Although

cancelling exams can be a preventive measure for the time being, considering the pandemic situation, I think this will cause a long term problem in the career path of children. In my opinion, a viva exam or a class test could be taken online. If the school management wants, they can easily do so. Not taking exams and assessing the students based on their education will not be enough to judge their skills.

— Anshul Gandhi, online educator

I nternal

assessment doesn't justify marks and performance of a student according to me. SSC board exams should be conducted while abiding the social distancing norms. Ever y other thing is being allowed adopting COVID-19 appropriate behaviour. An average student sometimes emerges as the topper of the school. Most often, internal marks tend to be biased and unfair. Board exams exist for a reason, and not conducting the exam will be a huge loss to the crucial academic year and will be unfair to everybody I feel.

— Farhana Ashraf, teacher

Given

the circumstances, examination should be the least of the worries, and students should be promoted anyway, let alone through internal assessment. No student was allowed to attend school this academic year. Then how can the government expect them to give examinations and then pass? We have bigger issues at hand to deal with, and it's not the students’ fault that they couldn't attend school for better understanding.

— Nikhil Ja dhav, computer engineer