Grade 12 students say college admission plans in disarray

Confusion, stress, uncertainty and frustration continue to reign among Grade 12 students and their parents after the Indian board exams were postponed.

Students preparing for these examinations for over a year were looking forward to graduating from school life to undergraduate courses in universities, but now the wait has become agonising.

“It is tiring, to be honest. We have been preparing for these examinations for months. We have had several rounds of pre-finals, and now we are not sure of what is going to happen...i am not sure what sort of an impact it will have on my college admission. I have conditional offers from several universities, and universities in Canada have been very cooperative so far. But I will get to know in the coming weeks what the final status is,” said Pururev Rana, Grade 12 student of IB board.

Maha Sweetha, another student of Grade 12, echoes the sentiments. “It is a panic situation for most of us, and it has been so stressful. Just a few months ago we were told exams will happen, datesheets were released, but then examinations are being postponed. We have taken 6-7 prelims until now, which has been hard on us mentally. A decision should be made. We have to submit final marksheets to universities for our final acceptance. How can we do that if the examination board doesn’t take a firm stand? If the Indian education board cancels the exams, the universities will accept our prelim scores or predictive test scores, and we can then concentrate on preparing for college.”

“Students have been looking for closure to be able to move on to the next level of a university, but sadly this decision has just added to their frustration level,” said Indrani Bhattacharya, mother of a Grade 12 student. “Postponement puts the admission process in flux.”

Abhimanyu Gupta of GEMS Modern Academy, said: “A level and IB have cancelled their final exams. I feel CBSE curriculum should do the same and release a final decision, once and for all.”