The gap year
The school-leaving Class of 2020 is dealing with confusion about interrupted exams, anxiety about college admissions and, of course, fear of a raging virus. Veer Arjun Singh sums up their dilemmas
Hiya Chowdhury’s apartment building in Noida was sealed last week. She constantly checks if more people in the neighbourhood have tested positive while she also obsessively scours the internet for updates from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). She is concerned about her family’s health. But also about a sociology exam that has been hanging fire for the last three months, part of the dreaded “board exams” that were interrupted by the spread of the coronavirus and the subsequent lockdown. “If it hadn’t been drilled into our heads that board exams could make or break your life, this wouldn’t have been as stressful,” says the Class 12 student.
She attends Delhi’s Springdales School, Pusa Road. Her exam is scheduled to be held on July 13 — by when the Delhi government estimates more than one lakh people will be infected with Covid-19. But the 18-year-old will have no choice but to step out into a virus-ravaged city to take the all-important exam.
Furious parents are asking the courts to intervene. A few parents of Class 12 students have filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the CBSE’S decision to hold the remaining exams between July 1 and 15. Another parent, Arvind Tiwari, has petitioned the Bombay High Court saying that the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE)’S decision to hold the remaining Class 10 (ICSE) and Class 12 (ISC) exams between July 1 and 14 is a violation of children’s Right to Life (Article 21) and Right to Equality (Article 14).
School-leaving examinations affect the lives of an estimated 10 million students in India, across national, state and international boards, according to 2018 data from the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi. This year, more than 1.2 million students are taking Class 12 CBSE examinations alone.
The situation is particularly grave in Maharashtra. The state already has nearly 100,000 Covid-19 cases, with no sign of the epidemic abating. Still, some 12,000 CBSE Class 12 students and 23,000 Class 10 (ICSE) and 12 (ISC) students are expected to take their pending board exams starting next month. The state government had asked CBSE and CISCE to not conduct the exams. But the boards have cited central government directives to do so.
The confusion has been devastating. Contradictory stances from boards and governments have had nervous parents and students running from pillar to post in search of definitive — and reassuring — answers. Angry discussions on Whatsapp groups and internet forums have risen. “Anxiety levels have escalated. And it has affected young adults the most. They have one foot in school and the other in the outside world,” says Ameeta Mulla Wattal, principal, Springdales School, Pusa Road.
Her school, like many others, has been holding webinars with students and parents. One of the major topics is about what happens to students who test positive for Covid-19 or are in containment zones and unable to take the exam. In an FAQ updated on June 2, CBSE has said that if a student was to miss an exam, the evaluation will be done “as per (an) assessment scheme to be decided by the board”. But there’s no clarity on the criteria. It also applies to students with special needs who need scribes and have been given the option to skip the pending exams to follow social distancing norms. CBSE says categorically that “no requests for reexaminations will be entertained”.
“It’s an evolving situation and the truth is that nobody has the answers. But the heads of all government agencies, whether it’s CBSE, UGC (University Grants Commission) or the NTA (National Testing Agency), and school boards have to be on one platform and give alternative solutions,” says Wattal.
Children with compromised immunity are especially anxious. Arushi Sharma ( name changed), a Class 12 student at Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, for instance, has celiac disease and is also anaemic. She says that it’s difficult for her to imagine how her batch of over 500 will follow social distancing in school. “While we prepare for various entrance exams, we’re studying for a school exam that might not happen and also worrying about our health,” says Sharma.
It all seems like a no-win situation: most Indian universities rely entirely on a standardised score printed on a stamped piece of paper. Cancelling the pending exams might deprive a child of scoring the requisite marks for university admission.
“We are all in a state of flux really. I wish the boards had found some sort of criteria for evaluation because we understand that holding exams in these conditions is pretty difficult,” says Arundhati Nath, mother of Ishayu Nath, a Class 12 student at The Shri Ram School (TSRS), Moulsari, Gurugram, which is affiliated to the CISCE. A part of the problem, she points out, is that the entire examination system in India centres on board exams. And the courses aren’t structured such that a student can be evaluated on the basis of his or her year-round performance. “Even the pre-board exams, which are set very stringently by the schools to prepare their students, aren’t the right way to evaluate their performance,” she adds.
Here’s another problem. Students applying to colleges abroad, especially in the US, had to make their applications around the same time the pre-boards were held. “It was understood that the applications take precedence over the pre-boards — unless you’re applying only in India, which was not the case with me,” says Aditya Pattani, also from TSRS, Moulsari. “So I will be at a disadvantage if only my pre-board marks were to be considered.” Pattani, a centre-forward who has played nationals in football, has a conditional offer from the University of California, Berkeley to study economics. But he needs the final board exam results. If the pending exams aren’t delayed any further, the CBSE has said that it will declare results by August 15 and the CISCE in late July. But many students applying to foreign universities will have missed their final admission deadlines by then.
Top foreign education destinations, such as the US, UK and Canada, have been gravely impacted by the coronavirus. As and when international flights resume, parents and students are also concerned about safety issues, quarantine regulations, not to mention a second wave of infections. They are starting to pull back and consider Indian universities instead.
Ishayu Nath, 18, the outgoing head boy at TSRS Moulsari, a pace bowler for Delhi State and also a national-level debater, has a conditional offer from University College London (UCL) for a BSC in philosophy, politics and economics. Since the course starts on September 28, he does have some time to weigh his options. “A lot of us are going to apply to Indian colleges as a safety net,” he says.
Another big question mark hangs over whether universities abroad will be able to open campuses and provide safe hostel facilities. “Many students are also wondering if online classes are even worth the investment,” says Ishayu Nath. He has also applied to Ashoka University, a liberal arts institution in Sonepat near Delhi, but his second choice will be a college in Delhi University. “We’ll consider the whole visa process for UCL if it’s safe. If it’s allowed but still unsafe, then I’d rather go next term,” he says.
Anjali Uppal, a college counsellor at G D Goenka Public School in Delhi’s Vasant Kunj and the co-founder of a private consultancy, Edwisery, says that a lot of high-performing children are considering studying a year in India and then moving to a foreign university next year.
“Visa offices are shut and it sometimes takes up to eight weeks to get an appointment. There’s a concern that students might not get visas on time. And if and when the flights resume, they might be extremely expensive,” says Uppal.
A battered economy is making some parents wonder whether it’s risky to attempt to finance their ward’s expensive foreign education. Sharma has a conditional offer from the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada. But, says Sharma’s father, “Our family business is down to about 10 per cent of what it was a few months ago. We’ll likely dig into our savings for her first semester fee and hope that things get better next year,” he says. The Sharmas, too, will be looking at domestic options.
Ali Imran, vice president, external engagement, Ashoka University, says the university, which is in its fourth round of admissions, has moved its entire admission process online, including personal interviews. “Applications have gone up by 40 per cent compared to last year,” he says. The university is still trying to work out if the campus (fully residential) can be opened at the start of the term in late August and how hostel facilities will be managed.
Delhi University has an even bigger problem. About 250,000 students applied to its 91 colleges last year and the number is likely to go up. There’s also no clarity if online classes will (or can) be conducted or how social distancing norms will be implemented for the large number of students.
Rajib Ray, president of the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA), says that a staggered time table will have to be created because many colleges will not have the infrastructure to handle all students at once with social distancing norms. “This means more classes will have to be conducted and more teachers will have to be hired,” says Ray. He quotes a recent example to explain why DU can’t begin online classes: “We had a video conferencing meeting with the dean today. Of the six members, five, including the dean, lost internet connection at least once.”
The university recently announced that it will not conduct sports trials or trials under the Extra-curricular Activities (ECA) quota this year. Karan Singh ( name
changed) of Delhi’s Vasant Valley School is sunk in gloom. He has participated in debates at international levels and was relying on the ECA quota for admission to DU. “I am preparing for law entrances, but I am now considering a gap year if nothing works out,” he says.
Meenakshi Gopinath, former principal of DU’S Lady Shri Ram College, says that the problem lies in the university’s heavily centralised decision-making. “The education system is very closely linked to the public health issue. But the kind of dialogue needed is not happening. Everybody is waiting for instructions from someone else,” she says.
Gopinath says that this is the perfect time to seriously rethink the admission, teaching and evaluation process, as also the whole business of end-of-semester exams. “The worst sufferers are the students. They still have to figure out where to study, what to study and what their future is going to be.”
By all accounts, the Class of 2020 is heading towards an uncertain first year of college and an unusual campus life. But only after it is able to fill in the gaps.
‘A LOT OF US ARE GOING TO APPLY TO INDIAN COLLEGES AS A SAFETY NET’ ISHAYU NATH TSRS MOULSARI, GURUGRAM
‘IF IT HADN’T BEEN DRILLED INTO OUR HEADS THAT BOARD EXAMS COULD MAKE OR BREAK YOUR LIFE, THIS WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN AS STRESSFUL’ HIYA CHOWDHURY SPRINGDALES SCHOOL PUSA ROAD, DELHI